On 27 July, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the Minister of Welfare Evika Siliņa at the Riga Castle. During the meeting, the parties discussed the Ministry of Welfare's budget priorities for 2024, the issue of protecting children's interests, work on revising the minimum basket of social services, the current situation of pensions and retirement pensions, the issue of retraining the workforce in line with current labour market trends, as well as work on improving hospice or palliative care services in Latvia.
"The priorities of the Ministry of Welfare in 2024 must be focused on reducing social inequality. I have already said that demography is our big problem. Benefits alone are not enough to boost births. We need to invest in quality education, healthcare, and affordable housing for families. And all this must be done not in isolation, but as a package. We also need to look comprehensively at the issues of workforce, pensions, and benefits, family and child care, as well as social inclusion, providing support to the groups of society most at risk of poverty and income inequality," said President Rinkēvičs at the end of the meeting.
