Report on the
08.09.2016

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Thirty five people attended the “Launch of CanCham’s Governance Program” at the Grand Palace Hotel on Wednesday, September 7th, 2016 at 18.30.

We thank Andris Piebalgs, the Chairman of the Unity Party (Vienotība) for both his input and support to our initiative. His recognition of the fact that there is considerable room for improvement for dealing with the bureaucracy makes Vienotība an excellent partner for resolving troublesome issues, since CanCham members can provide examples and the political establishment can make the necessary corrections. We hope that other political parties will take Vienotība’s lead and join in this process. 

Ed Kalvins, the Chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, outlined the process which includes reporting issues by an author, reviewing them within the CanCham to ensure that suggestions make sense, then submitting them to political parties for action, and receiving feedback from government institutions. Information of the program is found in http://cancham.lv/about-cancham/programs, the presentation is at CanCham Presentation on Governance 160907.pptx while the submission form is at Governance issue submission form.docx.

Ilvars Petersons, the Managing Director of Siemens in Latvia and Chairman of CanCham’s Governance Advisory Council introduced himself and provided insight on how his career experiences in the public and private sectors have positioned him to direct the CanCham effort. Ilvars will be coordinating the initiative between the CanCham and other organizations involved in addressing governance issues.

The CanCham started a new initiative, this being, that members can present their companies in a five minute presentations plus 5 minutes for discussions. Presenting were

=       Smart Continent LV Ekoterm SIA - Gints Turlajs

=       Areto Development - Arvīds Godjuks

=       SIA "Stendenberga" representing KRINNER - Daiga Štendenberga

=       E-bags. - Jan Welitz, Andrej Nikiforov

Available Member presentations can be found at http://cancham.lv/cancham-members/member-presentations

Announcements included:

New members to the CanCham (LOZE & PARTNERS, Attaché Baltique, R Birojs, VestaFume TLG, X-Infotech, Guna Skangale, HAPPy) were welcomed, as was Rajiv Asthana of MASE Exim Private Limited (India) and MASE Exim Pvt. Ltd.  (U.A.E.) who is looking for business opportunities in both Canada and Latvia.