On 12 January President Edgars Rinkēvičs met at the Riga Castle with Reinis Bērziņš, Chairman of the Board of the State Development Finance Institution ALTUM. The meeting covered the work agenda of ALTUM, as well as the situation of access to financing in Latvia and potential solutions offered by ALTUM. The President of Latvia was briefed on the state of play regarding the Three Seas Initiative project.
During the meeting, the Latvian President pointed out that one of Latvia's greatest challenges has long been insufficient access to finance, especially for entrepreneurs. Although Latvia has not fared poorly in various economic and business rankings over the past year, there has been no major breakthrough. To ensure economic growth, it is important to address the issue of access to finance already this year. Funding is necessary for both developing new ideas and enabling the expansion of existing businesses.
Another topic of discussion addressed the role of ALTUM in providing access to finance in instances where other market players do not offer it. For example, such support could be granted more actively in regions outside of Riga, to disadvantaged social groups and toward the development of early-stage innovative ideas.
