President of Latvia will be joined by poet and literary critic Jānis Vādons, poet and teacher Iveta Ratinīka, linguist Vineta Poriņa, Director of State Language Centre Māris Baltiņš, Director of the Latvian Language Agency Jānis Valdmanis, Minister for Education and Science Ilga Šuplinska, Minister for Justice Jānis Bordāns and Minister for Culture Nauris Puntuls. Discussion will focus on current efforts of state institutions and future initiatives that would promote the prestige and usage of the official language. Participants will also discuss how efficient and active official language policy of Latvia is and ways of improving and developing it in scope of the concept of modern and open Latvianness in our nation state.
Official language has strong positions in regulated areas, i.e. areas where its use is regulated by law: official or formal communication with government, local and educational institutions. The intent of the discussion is to highlight some of the negative examples in areas that are not regulated by law. Areas where use of Latvian depends on linguistic attitudes of speakers.
In October of 2019, President of Latvia Egils Levits proposed to designate the 15 October as the Official Language Day. On 15 October 1998, Latvian parliament adopted the Paragraph 4 of Satversme, which states that Latvian is the only official language of the Republic of Latvia. President of Latvia urges everyone to use the Official Language Day as an efficient platform for promoting the role of Latvian in building a more cohesive society stronger national identity, thus reminding the Latvian people in Latvia and abroad of our joint obligation to nurture, use and develop our language.