Egils Levits met with the Commander of the Border Force General Guntis Pujāts and officers of local units at Šķilbēni Border Force Unit. Meeting focused on national border control and border crime prevention. Other topics of the meeting included development of border protection facilities, wages and living conditions of border guards, and cooperation with local governments.
President Levits also took part in the general meeting of Latgale Planning Region at the Kotiņi Farm where he and heads and staff of regional governments discussed Latgale development vision for 2030 and identified some of the main obstacles. Main issues raised during the meeting included regional reform and municipal equalisation fund, demographic challenges, geographic and climate disparities, additional transportation costs of local farmers compared to agricultural producers in the Western part of the country due to greater distance from Riga.
President of Latvia praised the sustainable and future-oriented management model of Kotiņi Farm as he took the tour of the facilities. Farm’s vision integrates the newest food manufacturing trends that are driven by human health considerations and wholesome nutrition.
In his address to Rekova community, Egils Levits emphasised the need to strengthen the information space and the role of Latgalian language and culture. ‘I am happy to take part in today’s launching of technology, the Aizpurve transmission tower, crucial for information space. We have reached the 100% coverage of national information space with this tower. Information space is the basic element of social processes in any democracy, and it is very important to finally have all people of Latvia involved,’ stressed the President.
Starting from today, the Aizpurve transmission tower will broadcast Channel 1 and Channel 4 of the Latvian Radio, whereas free retransmission of five television channels – LTV1, LTV7, Sportacentrs.com, Re:TV and RigaTV 24 – through terrestrial television network was launched on 1 January 2020.
President of Latvia Egils Levits also addressed the issue of regional development and pointed out that ‘it is extremely important to make sure national policies help eliminate regional disparities. Every person, irrespective of whether they live in Riga, Viļaka, Liepāja or anywhere else in Latvia, should have access to equal opportunities. We must, of course, encourage people to use these opportunities. Nevertheless, it is the state and all of us together who have to provide such opportunities.’
During his visit to Viļaka, Egils Levits also signed a message to future generations. Time capsule with message will become a part of restored War of Independence Memorial Plaque which will be revealed this spring in Ančipova.
