Baltic NEWS in UK » Latvia News http://www.balticnews.co.uk The Latest News from and around the Baltic Region brought to the UK to bring awareness and encourage International Business Development, Investment & Trade. Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:29:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 RB Rail On Track To Roll http://www.balticnews.co.uk/rb-rail-on-track-to-roll/111772 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/rb-rail-on-track-to-roll/111772#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:29:42 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1772 baltics-map-balticRB Rail, the new joint rail system to be constructed and shared by Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, has been registered in Latvia. Talks and agreements taking place last month for Rail Baltic II are a further continuation of Baltic I – which includes a line from the Polish-Lithuanian border to a new intermodal terminal at Kaunas, presently under construction, is expected to be concluded in 2015. The overall cost for RB II is likely to be in the region of €3 billion Euros with Latvia’s Transport Ministry share being at approximately €1.95 billion.  The transport line is being viewed as an important bridge between Europe and the Baltic States and will no doubt contribute toward further economic development.

Latvia Transport Minister Anrijs Matiss said: “I want to emphasise that the greatest beneficiaries of this project will be the Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian citizens, who will be able to easily travel to any Baltic country and other destinations in Europe in the near future.”

Two representatives from each country of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have been appointed to the board of RB Rail – Anti Moppel for Estonia is chairman of the board, Ugis Magonis representing Latvia and Dainius Budyrs Lithuania. They will oversee the design, construction and marketing of the new 728km long railway line which will enable trains to travel at speeds not exceeding 240km/h achieving travel times of Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border of about 4 hours.

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Lithuanian Student Brings Industrial Conference To Derby http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuanian-student-brings-industrial-conference-to-derby/111762 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuanian-student-brings-industrial-conference-to-derby/111762#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:16:37 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1762 Ian Taylor, Chantel Scully and Paulius Jakuitis at Cromford Mills.A student from Lithuania at the University of Derby has helped to bring an international conference on Europe’s industrial heritage back home to the place where it all began. Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills were at the forefront of Britain’s Industrial Revolution in the 1770s, and other developments pioneered in the area led UNESCO to declare the Derwent Valley Mills a World Heritage site. Now the German-led European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) group is holding its annual conference in the UK for the first time – at Cromford and hosted by the Arkwright Society, which is dedicated to restoring the Mills.

“It’s coming home to its roots,” said Ian Taylor, one of the three Events Management students at the University’s Buxton campus who have been put in charge of the management of the conference from October 1 to 3.

Ian has organised the logistics, liaising with the organisers in Hamburg and the Arkwright Society, while Paulius Jakuitis from Kaunas in Lithuania is in charge of marketing. Chantel Scully, from Wakefield, is in charge of hospitality. Events include a gala dinner for delegates, tours of the Valley including some of its other historic mills, and the industrial heritage of Derby from railways to Rolls-Royce engineering. They are also in charge of an academic conference at Cromford following the ERIH event, and overseeing DerbyCollege students who are providing the catering. All Events Management students get involved in organising functions as part of the University’s real-world, hands-on style of learning, but working with so many different organisations has been a real challenge, said Paulius.

“This is how Derby gives that extra value compared to other universities offering similar degrees,” he said.

“I am delighted that at Cromford Mills we are able to work with the University in providing the opportunities for students to learn in a ‘real life’ experience,” said Sarah Mcleod, Chief Executive of the Arkwright Society.

“They have certainly given it their all and I am confident that they will be able to take new skills away from this project and use them in the workplace.”

ERIH was set up to develop tourism routes through Europe for enthusiasts of industrial heritage to follow.

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AirBaltic Summer Flights To Bulgaria http://www.balticnews.co.uk/airbaltic-summer-flights-to-bulgaria/111755 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/airbaltic-summer-flights-to-bulgaria/111755#comments Wed, 25 Jun 2014 10:18:21 +0000 Saleem - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1755 RigaRIX_Varna_airBalticPictured from the left:

- Vice President Corporate Communications of airBaltic, Janis Vanags,

- Tez Tour Operations manager, Jurijs Batkilins,

- Member of the board of Riga International Airpot, Andis Damlics,

- Director of Aviation Services Department of RigaInternationalAirport, Arturs Kokars.

Latvian airline airBaltic has launched its summer flights from Riga to Varna, Bulgaria in cooperation with the international tour operator Tez Tour. The new route offers convenient connections between the two cities and beyond to destinations in the Baltic region, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS countries.

As part of restructuring initiatives, airBaltic has discontinued a number of routes recording somewhat weaker demand in the summer season; this move makes aircraft capacity available for the Riga – Varna service for airBaltic customers travelling between the two cities and onwards to destinations such as Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Vilnius, Tallinn. airBaltic operates flights from Riga to Varna two times a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Passengers board a Boeing 737-300 aircraft for a flight that lasts for 2 hours 40 minutes. Return ticket price starts at EUR 199, including airport fees and transaction costs.

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these locations, airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.

Tez Tour offers charter flight to travellers all year round. Tez Tour customers are welcome to visit Turkey, Greece, Spain, Egypt, UAE, Thailand, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Maldives, as well as skiing resorts in Austria, Italy and Andorra.

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Latvian Student Research in Sustainable Spa Management http://www.balticnews.co.uk/latvian-student-research-in-sustainable-spa-management/111721 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/latvian-student-research-in-sustainable-spa-management/111721#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:58:12 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1721 University of Derby Buxton student Ieva Cesnoka in the campus spaLatvian student, Ieva Cesnoka, has been making waves through her research at the University of Derby Buxton in International Spa Management. Ieva utilised her master’s degree in psychology gained from University of Latvia for her research in Spa management to demonstrate that managers could introduce more eco friendly practices and increase profits.

The organisers of the Professional Spa and Wellness Convention held in London’s ExCel conference centre invited Ieva and five colleagues to carry out research into best practices following acknowledgement by the industry that Buxton was leading the world in spa degrees. Ieva’s research revealed that 50% of managers surveyed didn’t respond to questions regarding the principals of sustainability and 3% admitted that they weren’t even sure what it meant. Ieva stated that sustainability meant much more than just being eco-friendly, it included running a business in a manner which saves the planet, while retaining the right employees and increasing profit.

The research was so well received that the university has been invited to carry out another research project next year. Ieva has been invited by world leaders in spa, from the President of the Spa Federation of Africa to suppliers of spa products in Australia, to take part in further projects.

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Baltic Fashion & Textile Riga 2014 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-fashion-textile-riga-2014/111691 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-fashion-textile-riga-2014/111691#comments Thu, 31 Oct 2013 08:46:06 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1691 BF&T RIGA logoSourced by BT 1

To promote the development of the Baltic textile industry and to expand it to the international markets, the International Exhibition Company BT 1, the organisers of the Lithuanian textile fair “Baltic Textile & Leather” and the textile industry associations of Latvia and Lithuania have reached an agreement that, as of 2014, there will be one competitive fashion and textile industry fair “Baltic Fashion & Textile” rotating between venues in Riga (spring) and Vilnius (autumn).

The 19th International Textile Industry Fair “Baltic Fashion & Textile RIGA 2014” will take place from 4‒6 April at the Kipsala International Exhibition Centre, Riga, offering a vast exhibition, fashion shows, conferences and business-to-business matchmaking and the International Competition for Young Fashion Designers “Habitus Baltija 2014”. The fair will bring together the most competitive manufacturers, distributors and designers offering an international communication and business platform for the fashion and textile professionals in the Baltic States, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS.

One common fair for the Baltic countries opens up new opportunities to promote more ambitiously the Baltic fashion and textile products, creative potential, enhance product competitiveness and expand sales into new markets across the Baltic States, the EU, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS.

“Baltic Fashion & Textile Riga 2014” will introduce the new season collections, supplies and equipment, home textiles, innovative textiles, technical textiles, fashion accessories, designer recycled clothing collections, as well as it will offer a daily programme of fashion shows of the latest spring / summer ready-to-wear collections.

An opportunity to share experiences, acquire new knowledge and contacts, the fair will offer international conference series covering the most current fashion and textile industry topics on 4 and 5 April.  This will be an important event for designers, stylists, textile professionals and top managers, academic staff and students, and everyone engaged in the fashion and textile industry.

The conference speakers will share their experience and the participants will have the opportunity to discuss the current industry news, e.g. the use of innovative and eco-friendly materials in clothing, starting a fashion business and the development opportunities in Europe, the quality and accessibility of fashion design programmes in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe.

The organisers offer to businesspeople, manufacturers, distributors and designers an exclusive platform to build up business contacts and new partnerships ‒ B2B Matchmaking Event that allows contact potential partners and schedule individual meeting programmes already before the fair and to meet in person, present products and services, discuss opportunities for further collaboration and get business contacts during the fair.

The 14th International Competition for Young Fashion Designers “Habitus Baltija 2014”, 5 April, will present unique fashion collections created by young designers from Latvia and more than a dozen other countries that will compete for the Grand Prix and a significant prize fund. “Habitus Baltija” is a fashion event included in the events programme of Riga ‒ European Capital of Culture 2014.

More information about the fair: www.balticfashiontextile.com

Registration for the fair is open! Please contact the “Baltic Fashion & Textile 2014” sales manager Ms Ilze Avota on the telephone: +371 67065037 or via e-mail: ilze.avota@bt1.lv

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Euros Hit The Latvian High Street http://www.balticnews.co.uk/euros-hit-the-latvian-high-street/111683 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/euros-hit-the-latvian-high-street/111683#comments Thu, 03 Oct 2013 09:14:47 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1683 hi-latvia-euro (1)This week saw the start of Latvia’s dual pricing display. As of the 1st October all prices in shops in Latvia must be displayed in both euros and lats. Store receipts will also show both pricing of euros and lats, the currency conversion at the official lat-euro exchange rate of 1 euro per 0.702804 lat. Consumer Rights Protection Centre and the Financial and Capital Market Commission will keep an eye on shop prices and bank fees to guarantee that the prices in euros are calculated correctly. This close security will continue until 1st January 2014 when Latvia fully integrates to the Euro zone.

The changes may be a little confusing to the eye for the everyday citizen but the changes will smooth the progress for foreign tourists unfamiliar with the lat and what prices to expect for local goods.

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Latvia Leading Electronic Communications http://www.balticnews.co.uk/latvia-leading-electronic-communications/111676 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/latvia-leading-electronic-communications/111676#comments Fri, 06 Sep 2013 11:39:58 +0000 Saleem - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1676 Fibre_opticOctober of this year half of all households in Latvia will access one of the fastest Internet services in the world – fibre optic Internet connection bandwidth up to 1 Gbit/s enabled by Lattelecom, the leading electronic communications service provider in Latvia. This speed upgrade is also likely to positively affect Latvia’s current position in the world’s Internet speed rankings. Based on Akamai State of the Internet Report, in the 1st quarter of 2013 Latvia was ranked the 6th in the world for average connection speed and the 5th in the world for average peak connection speed.

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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Director of Fashion Department IED Moda Lab Roma Lara Aragno Gigli to speak at the conference “Fashion and Design: Trends and Perspectives” In Latvia http://www.balticnews.co.uk/director-of-fashion-department-ied-moda-lab-roma-lara-aragno-gigli-to-speak-at-the-conference-fashion-and-design-trends-and-perspectives-in-latvia/111652 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/director-of-fashion-department-ied-moda-lab-roma-lara-aragno-gigli-to-speak-at-the-conference-fashion-and-design-trends-and-perspectives-in-latvia/111652#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:29:46 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1652 Intertextil 2013_datums ENGOn 19th April, Kipsala International Exhibition Centre, in Latvia’s beautiful city Riga, will hold the international conference “Fashion and Design: Trends and Perspectives”, with participation of Lara Aragno Gigli who has been working with Armani and Prada and for over 10 years and has been a manager of the Italian high fashion label MiuMiu. Currently Lara is the director of Fashion Department IED Moda Lab Roma.

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 20th 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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Third Northern Future Forum Held in Latvia http://www.balticnews.co.uk/third-northern-future-forum-held-in-latvia/111642 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/third-northern-future-forum-held-in-latvia/111642#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:21:12 +0000 Saleem - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1642 The recent meeting of the Northern Future Forum was hosted by Latvia’s Prime Minster Valdis Dombrovskis in Riga. This years meeting was focussing on Green Technology and highlighting awareness between the young and the old in Digital Technology. This is the third consecutive year for the meeting of the Baltic regions, UK, Iceland and Nordic countries bringing in company representatives and industry experts for meetings and discussions with the aforementioned countries leaders. Latvia’s leaders were keen for an opportunity to demonstrate that they are well on the way to meeting requirements for the 20/20/20 EU mandate on green related developments. Also demonstrations and visitations were made to Latvia’s out reach centres where citizens are able to gain internet access and necessary computer skills.

The first forum was hosted by David Cameron in London in 2011 which focussed on enterprise, economic growth, boosting employment and people’s well being. In 2012 the forum was hosted in Stockholm, Sweden where discussions were centred on social challenges including older people in employment and women in business and management.

At the end of the forum Prime Minister Dombrovskis thanked each of the PMs for coming to Riga and spoke of the work in place focussing on sustainable cleaner power sources and future intentions in order for Latvia to cut its dependency on outmoded energy solutions.

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Baltic Farmers Fire Up The Baltic Way http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-farmers-fire-up-the-baltic-way/111625 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-farmers-fire-up-the-baltic-way/111625#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:22:11 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1625 In order to ensure fair and equal representation for the Baltic’s at the next upcoming European Council meeting at which will be decided the EU agricultural budget for 2014 to 2020, an event is being planned by farmers in the Baltic States to light some 400 fires along the access roads to Via Baltica road (E-67). The event is being called the Bonfire Baltic Way and will symbolise the unity of the Baltic States farming community. Starting at 16:30 on 5th February a meeting will be held at Dome Square,Riga of farmers and officials where speeches and musical performances will be given before the fires are lit at 17:00, and kept alight until 18:00. Similar simultaneous meetings are to be held in Salacgrīva, Saulkrasti, Ķekava, Iecava, Bauska, and on the border points with Estonia and Lithuania.

The event is reminiscing of the first Baltic Way, also known as the Baltic Chain, an extraordinary show of solidarity when some two million ordinary people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania linked hands to form a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius in 1989 covering over 600 kilometres. This peaceful protest was to mark the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which was created between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and led to occupation of the Baltic States in 1940. This visually stunning event was designed to draw the world’s eyes to the desire for independence from the Soviet Union for each of the Baltic countries and the intense solidarity held among the these three nations.

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