27.03.2026 CanCham Strategic Partnership Initiative (SPI) Review Report
27.03.2026

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CanCham’s Strategic Partnership Initiative (SPI) Review took place on Thursday, March 26th, 2026 at 21:00 Riga time via Zoom.

The objective of the review was to inform members about the developments made within the SPI.

Objectives of the SPI: To attract Canadian companies to CanCham Latvia thereby providing partners for CanCham Latvia members and expanded business opportunities for all. This does not exclude creating SPIs between CanCham Latvian members, but it prioritizes Canadian companies.

Introduction of SPI Coordinators

• Ed Kalvins, Chairman
• Andris Ķesteris, Head of the Baltic Canadian Council and one of CanCham’s Canadian directors. We refer to him as “The Man on the Hill” as he lobbies on behalf of Latvia and the Baltic States with the Canadian Government.
• Susan Mogensen, Canadian-Baltic Gateways & Brown Dog Consulting
• Karen Verbeek, BaltiCanada

These members have been meeting every Thursday since September, working on SPI, and have made a significant contribution to defining the initiative and its structure. We thank this group for their efforts.

Recent additions to the SPI Coordinators Group:

• Aira Darzins, ARD Trading
• Arnis Rozītis, Drone or Defence Project Coordinator in Canada, formerly of General Dynamics
• Liene Sestule, Defence Project Coordinator in Latvia
• Daiga Bauer, Krinner Ground Screws, Construction-Related Services Coordinator, Latvia
• Mārtiņš Āriņš, Click Scale, IT Project Coordinator in Latvia

Participants were reminded of the development timeline for SPI:

• 02.01.19 Strategic Partnership concept introduced
• 25.03.25 Seminar with Professor Jonathan Calof
• 14.11.25 First SPI coordination meeting
• 22.11.25 First Strategic Partnership seminar
• 26.01.26 Launch / implementation

Implementation Strategy – Basis of Our Strategic Approach

• Presenting market entry opportunities to a region with a population of 33.2 million
• Latvian companies have sales forces established in Northeastern Europe – offered to Canadian partners
• CanCham Latvia is the only CanCham in Northeastern Europe

Progress

• Objectives have been defined
• Database of contacts established
• Marketing approach developed
• Currently in the implementation stage

SPI coordinator instruments

• Includes website, meetings, database, social media, with special attention given to the SPI brochure.
• Members are encouraged to first review the Upcoming Events page. This provides connection details for events as well as a quick overview of upcoming activities.
• Sell sheets will be the next addition to the implementation process. These will focus on a company’s management, services provided, and the type of partner they are seeking. They will be tailored to each member and their representative.

Role of CanCham in cooperation with TFL:

• Organize information or procurement seminars at the request of the Canadian Embassy or TFL
• Provide communication platforms (website, Facebook, LinkedIn) to share approved TFL information or distribute it via email
• Provide members and seminar participants with contact details and relevant TFL information
• Share information about CanCham members via the member directory: https://cancham.lv/cancham-members

• Provide Destination Management Coordination (DMC) or market entry consulting services
• Provide information that the SPI team can use to promote member activity
• Designate a person to actively promote your organization

Note: Some members offer DMC or market entry (consulting) services to Latvia or Canada for a fee, similar to services provided by lawyers and accountants.

The way forward

• Prepare sell sheets for each member
• Canadian SPI coordinators identify and engage Canadian companies
• Latvian SPI coordinators match CanCham members with Canadian companies to develop strategic partnerships
• Continued database development