On 19 January, President of Latvia Egils Levits paid a regional visit to Sigulda where he met with Chair of Sigulda Regional Council Uģis Mitrevics to discuss energy price jump, energy efficiency programmes and greening. President Levits was keen to learn more about how region is coping with these challenges and what regional administration intends to do in terms of offering vulnerable social groups additional support. President and Chair of the Regional Council also discussed future plans of making Sigulda green, convenient and developed region.
Conversation was also joined by Sigulda State Gymnasium administration and president of its Pupils’ Council. One of key focuses was digital skills in the region as core competency in education and regional development. Representatives of Sigulda told President Levits about project for converting the existing bus station into digital community centre, which would serve two main objectives: offer everyday digital support to local population and serve as the digital centre of excellence for youth seeking ways to enhance their education opportunities and employability. Graduates of Sigulda Digital Hub have already achieved respectable results in various international competitions, for example, by winning the European Space Agency competition for youngsters from all over the world.
Egils Levits and Mariss Priekulis, President of Sigulda State Gymnasium Pupils’ Council, talked about how digital skills and media literacy are taught at the school and how well pupil are performing in these disciplines. Egils Levits praised gymnasium for being a role model for other schools in terms of successful ways of integrating media literacy into school curricula.
Egils Levits and Sigulda region administration discussed ‘Computer for every child’ project initiated by President of Latvia. Municipal leaders presented progress in providing computers for learning purposes. Sigulda and gymnasium administration expressed their support for President’s intentions to create a digital library/computer stock in every school, a place where any pupil can go and lend a computer. They also mentioned that gymnasium has already been implementing a very similar initiative.
‘Sigulda will celebrate its 815th birthday this year. It is a green city and region. One of the most future-oriented towns in Latvia, which is constantly thinking about its future. Our country needs more of such approach,’ Egils Levits said as he presented the presidential plaquette to Sigulda Regional Council.
President of Latvia also visited specialised healthcare provider SIA ‘Siguldas slimnīca’ (Sigulda Hospital) where he discussed current state of healthcare system in the Sigulda region and fight against Covid-19 pandemic. Hospital is currently providing rehabilitation to numerous Covid-19 patients recovering from the virus. Egils Levits also went to Stereotactic Radiosurgery Centre Sigulda, which operates CyberKnife robotic radiotherapy device, a modern high-precision ray therapy equipment that helps treat cancer and malignant tumours as well as metastasis in various parts of body without invasive surgery. Innovative CyberKnife technology is very popular with medical tourists from other countries. Egils Levits thanked centre’s staff for its vital service to the society and praised healthcare providers for finding a successful medical tourism niche.
