New possibilities for Latvian entrepreneurs in the United States

Last month Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis visited the United States accompanied by a business delegation. Mr Andris Ozols, director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) headed the business delegation and stated that this visit played in important role for the further development of Latvian businesses. “The economy of the United States is the world's largest national economy and has numerous competitors for Latvian entrepreneurs. At the same time it is a promising market for Latvian entrepreneurs, especially in the fields of Information Technologies and Innovations because this large market creates completely different development possibilities than a market our own size. Evaluating the business meetings and the goal oriented attitude of the Latvian entrepreneurs, it clearly shows that this visit to the United States was only the beginning of what will lead to concrete results”.

Mr Andris Gailitis, board member of “DEAC” experienced the possibilities the Silicon Valley had to offer and stressed that participating in this business delegation offered a lot of advantages. It was a first step into a concrete market. “A lot of doors were opened, that would not have opened that easily for entrepreneurs not participating in this delegation”. “DEAC” met with representatives from “Google”, “Dell”, “Cisco”, Juniper” and other renown IT companies. Mr Gailitis said that the companies showed great interest in the e-classroom system that he presented and that the first step to a cooperation agreement was made.

Also Mr Andrjes Vasiljevs from “Tilde” agreed that participating in the business delegation was very valuable, because large U.S. companies showed interest in the Tilde translation technologies.

Representatives from company “Hygen”, a start-up from the Jelgava business incubator, claim that they have achieved the most from this trip. “Hygen” offers an unique and innovative technology that operates on gas and is developed for fueling cars under home circumstances, by connecting the appliance to the home gas pipe line. To further develop this project, significant investment is needed, which could only come from a risk capital investor. The possibility to find one in Latvia is very limited. That is why the company presented their project to risk capital funds in the United States in order to attract investments.

Mr Robers Strods, financial director of “Hygen” said that the advantage of participating in this delegation was that it was possible to meet with companies that were already informed about them and that made it possible to speed up the cooperation talks. “We met with two investors of which one was very interested in the development of our product. He gave us some “home work” which we will do in the next few months. We are planning to continue our talks in the near future and we are considering joining an American business incubator.

Company “MolPort” that develops internet shops for various chemicals for scientific institutes and chemical production companies, joined the delegation to present themselves to potential clients and partners. Mr Janis Oslejs, director of “MolPort” said that during the visit he met with companies that were selected with great care and thus really were interested in cooperation.

One of the leading Latvian metal engineering companies 'Liepajas Metalurgs” targeted to visit the United States to talk about removing quotas for selling their products on the US market, which would be in accordance with recommendations by the World Trade Organization. Board member Aleksejs Zaharjins said that Francisco J. Sánchez, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade U.S, personally confirmed that the case is being looked in to. Latvia will follow the developments closely.

Not only the entrepreneurs were satisfied with the visit but also Mr Indars Ascuks, board member of NASDAQ OMX in Riga, who stressed that the advantages of this visit were not only practically important, bus also important for cooperation between the private and public sectors. Besides that he said that it was good to hear that the United States respects and values what Latvia has achieved in balancing the budget which is something a lot of wealthy and influential countries were not able to do. “We, ourselves, have not understood this unique achievement yet”, I. Ascuks said.

The visit of the Prime Minister of Latvia, Mr Valdis Dombrovskis, to the United States (Washington, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Austin, New York) took place from July 13-22, 2011. Over 40 companies participated in the accompanying business delegation. Participation of the entrepreneurs was organized by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA). Representatives from the Latvian Association of Commercial Banks, NASDAQ OMX Riga and the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia also participated in the delegation.

Read more about the visit on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers here

Or check out the video about the visit here

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