Beer drinking and brewing is considered a serious business in Latvia with many small and medium size speciality brewers catering to individual tastes. Most restaurants serve beer with meals, although wine is also available, beer is more traditional consumed with Latvian cuisine. The Merlin restaurant near the central market in Riga is one of the largest specialised beer restaurants in Latvia.

This years Beer Festival is financed by Riga city council, Latvijas Avize, Live Riga and Stefan Pehringer who is the Austrian Ambassador in Latvia. There will also be an international conference, Baltic Beer Star, where international professionals from the brewing trade can meet to discuss the latest techniques and developments.

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Mr. Juris Gulbis, Chairman of Lattelecom Management Board stated, ‘Starting from 2008, which is when we commenced fibre optic infrastructure development works in Latvia, we have invested as much as 30 million lats in the network, converting fibre optic Internet into an industry benchmark. Since then the needs of our customers have increased and technologies have undergone further development, making it a generally accepted routine that each individual household would use multiple TV sets, or that each family member would use his or her own computer or smartphone. Total Internet usage has kept growing real fast on our network – each year it has increased by even twice as much on average, which is why we have made a step towards meeting the needs of „a future customer” through upgrading Lattelecom data network capacity up to 1 Gbit/s, which is an unbelievably high speed.’

Mr. Anrijs Matīss, Minister of Transport, considered that, from the point of view of industry growth, it is a highly notable achievement towards enabling availability of high quality and easy to use electronic communications services and quality fulfilment of the objectives laid down in the Digital Agenda for Europe.

Following the increase, the current Internet speed is more than 50 000 times faster than in 1997, when Lattelecom launched the first 19 Kbit/s Internet dial up connection aimed at residential customers.  Sixteen years ago a user would have taken 25 days to download a 5 GB size document, while today this action takes aprox. 40 seconds. Faster bandwidth provides maximum benefit to such households in which multiple computers and TV sets furnished with Interactive TV functionality are used actively and simultaneously by multiple family members, as well as to such individual users by whom large amounts of data (e.g. high resolution videos and photos) are processed on a daily basis.

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Madame Kuku brings together top boutique brands from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and sells an eclectic mix of exclusive designs. The website is the first of its kind to sell Baltic women’s wear, menswear, children’s wear, accessories and beauty products to the UK market.

The brainchild of 28-year-old Baiba More, originally from Latvia, Madame KuKu prides itself on the exclusive handmade garments on offer, many of which can be specifically made to order.

Baiba said: “After moving to England I found it very hard to get hold of some of the clothes and accessories which were popular back home in the Baltics. Many of my friends here would compliment me on the things I was wearing so I realised there was a market in the UK for Baltic fashion designers which, for the most part, hadn’t been explored. The creativity and attention to detail of Baltic designers is second to none so I really wanted to do something to promote this niche market to a wider audience. Nowadays people have so little time on their hands to shop so an on-line store where all the best designers are in one place is great and a great platform for fashion which is perhaps a little more unique than anything else on offer – you certainly won’t bump into anyone wearing the same thing at a party!”

Baiba is from a small Latvian town called Liepaja, on the Baltic coast. After moving to the capital Riga to study business management, Baiba moved to Dubai before finally settling in Bristol with her husband a GP.  Along with her Latvian business partner Liene Gavrilova, a prominent fashion designer who also runs her own advertisement company in Riga, Baiba has recruited some of the best known and upcoming designers from the Baltics including Karaliene, Freak Factory, Peony, Varkki and BeCarousell.

Selling everything from dresses, handbags and lingerie to men’s shirts and skincare ranges, Madame Kuku is a one-stop shop for those looking to widen their fashion horizons and for Europeans currently living in the UK.

Describing Baltic fashion Baiba said: “We sell very elegant and sophisticated clothes but at the same time each piece has something a little bit exciting about it. Baltic design is very recognisable and is considered chic and classy. Currently Baltic fashion is huge in Paris and I can see it really making its mark in the UK next. The fact that the clothes are all handmade by the designer means that each piece is made with love and attention, something you will struggle to find with many brands available in the UK. I’m so excited about the launch of Madame Kuku and look forward to expanding our bank of designers in the future as well stocking more products including interior décor as we grow.” See for yourself at www.madamekuku.com

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During the conference, Lara will speak about the revolution and evolution in the fashion industry over the last three decades; main actors in the fashion market, the opportunities Rome offers to young designers and support it grants to foster new talents. On 20^th April Lara will chair the panel of judges of the Competition for Young Fashion Designers “Habitus Baltija 2013”. The competition will present fashion collections created by emerging designers of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Great Britain and other European countries.

Lara started her career as an actress and worked with such film directors as Mauro Bolognini, Giuliana Berlinguer, d’Amico and Luca Verdone and has also been an assistant to the costume designer Andrea Viotti and working for “Amleth” and “The Bandits”. The first experience in the world of fashion Lara made with the Italian designer Pino Lancetti, a creator of the Lancetti label. Lara considers that 1982 was the turning point of her career, when the well-known Italian designer Giorgio Armani and his business partner Sergio Galeotti employed her as assistant to Silvana Armani to develop the women’s clothing line Emporio. Lara worked twelve years with Silvana Armani and during that time amassed extensive knowledge in design – from denim to preta-a-porter collections, from children’s fashion to accessory design. In 1995 Lara was appointed the manager of the MiuMiu label by Prada. Through this work Lara learned to perceive fashion as a language, giving a great weight to the concept of a product and creative thinking in its design. Since 2006, Lara has been the director of Fashion Department IED Moda Lab Roma.

“Fashion and Design: Trends and Perspectives” will gather fashion professionals from Latvia, Lithuania, Great Britain, Norway and Italy to discuss the acute issues of fashion business and the opportunities to support emerging designers. The conference is organised by the International Exhibition Company BT 1 in conjoint with the Latvian British Chamber of Commerce, the Fashion Chamber of Latvia, the Association of Clothing and Textile Industry and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia. Read more about the conference programme, themes and speakers at www.bt1.lv/fashion.

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The event is being held by the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Latvia, the Danish Cultural Institute in Latvia, the Latvian British Chamber of Commerce in the UK and the International Exhibition Company BT 1. Chief Executive Officer of the Latvian British Chamber of Commerce in the UK and one of the initiators of the forum Mārcis Liors Skadmanis explained that “This will be a significant event for the Baltic and Nordic fashion and textile industry in Latvia, a gathering of great minds, which drive the fashion industry within our region and beyond. I am confident that this forum will open up new doors and opportunities, discussing ideas to build a sustainable and profitable fashion business.”

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A regulator (when referring to European Union) said, “needs to gather all the necessary information”, the regulator continued with, “to ensure that the aid granted to MLB’s commercial activities is compatible with the Commission’s state-aid rules on restructuring aid.”

The Latvian’s of the Baltic State country are very pleased with this move giving much encouragement to its people.

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The decision was made by Latvia’s parliament with a vote of 73 to 3 with 17 abstaining. The news will bring new confidence within Latvia’s banking sector after the upset caused by the resignation of Irena Krumane, the former director of the regulator on the 28^th November 2011 after the suspension of Latvia’s sixth largest deposit bank, Latvijas Krajbanka AS on the 21^st November due to accusations of missing monies totalling some LVL 109 million.

Kristaps Zakulis was previously head of security for the state owned telecommunications company SIA Lattelcom and Swedbank.

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Last year Dzintars were reported to be in discussions with a US retail chain who were interested in the company’s eco-cosmetic products. They presently produce more than 750 different perfumes, cosmetics, skin, hair and facial care products and other bio-cosmetic products. Dzintars products are exported to 21 countries, mostly in the Baltics, but also the Commonwealth of Independent States, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria and Israel. As internationally customers are already familiar with their products and their turnover moves from strength to strength, now would be a favourable moment for Dzintars shops to go global.

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Britain has a long standing tradition of exporting Latvian timber right back to 1403 when treaties were signed between the English King Henry IV and the Hanseatic League, an economic alliance of trading cities and their guilds that controlled trade along the coast of Northern Europe from the 13^th – 17^th centuries.

Baltic timber and hemp were essential shipbuilding materials. Many wars were fought over the control of the Baltic timber trade including most famously the battle of Trafalgar where Napoleon was thwarted by Nelson, despite his many attempts to cut Britain off from trading with Northern Europe.

Shipbuilding no longer requires hemp or large quantities of wood, but the UK trade in Latvian wood remains as healthy as ever. In 1999-2000 reforms were made in the Latvian forestry industry to go from volume-base to value-base.  To maintain sustainability of the Latvian forests value-added products, such as kiln-dried timber, became the main focus. To achieve that end Latvian companies have invested in modern technology to produce more labour and skilled intensive joinery and carpentry products.

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The finance group Nordea Estonia is very hopeful of a growth also as they believe a number of opportunities within the Estonian economy will arise, especially with the Euro implementation taking place putting Estonia on the map.

Estonian’s finance minister has indicated that their finance and government infrastructure is on target for the Euro, bringing confidence to the people convincing them the government is fully behind.
The Economy of Latvia is also in a good recovering position with the adjustment decline of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) figure from 4.0 % to 3.5 %.

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