This is the sixth year in a row for the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), in cooperation with Citadele Bank, to organize the EXPORT DAY, a Forum dedicated to export-related topics. This year the event will focus on fundamental topics regarding export market diversification, and the draft US–EU free trade agreement.
The best exporters will be awarded with the traditional LCCI awards, such as Krišjānis Valdemārs' award "Latvians, go sail the sea!" and Sprīdītis prize, within the scope of the Forum (from 11:30 am).
"Latvia's export indices reflect Russia's economic slowdown, export restrictions and the Russian ruble depreciation therefore further external trade development will depend on how successful out businessmen are at entering new markets," emphasizes Jānis Endziņš, Chair of the LCCI Board. He also points out that this is one of the reasons why the LCCI offers to explore Asian markets and cooperation prospects with USA.
"The previous year presented many challenges for the business environment, therefore many companies had to work thoroughly on increasing their efficiency and entering new markets," comments Santa Purgaile, Member of Citadele Bank's Board. "Exporting companies are trying to come up with solutions for increasing their export volumes whereas those that do not have any export operations yet are thinking about launching exports. This is where loan accessibility becomes important. Analysing Citadele Bank's data, we see that entrepreneurs mostly use less popular financing options, such as factoring and trade finance instruments, for developing their export capacity. This year's EXPORT DAY will feature practical information on cooperation networks and financing instruments that businessmen can use for launching or increasing their exports."
The keynote speakers at EXPORT DAY 2015 will be Gundars Strautmanis, President of the LCCI, as well as the State Secretaries of the Ministries of Economics and Foreign Affairs.
The morning session of the Forum will feature a macroeconomic overview of the Latvian export market by Santa Bērziņa, Head of the Macroeconomic Analysis Department at the Bank of Latvia, and information about EU funding available for entrepreneurs by Edmunds Valantis, Director of EU funds implementation department at Ministry of Economics. Jānis Endziņš, Chair of the LCCI, will inform about the LCCI's support, whereas Kaspars Jansons, Head of Resource Management Division at Citadele Bank, will talk about challenges in currency and money markets. To encourage exporters, Jānis Endele, co-owner of Karavela Ltd., will introduce participants with his company's success story.
At the end of the morning session, at 11:30 am, the best exporters will be awarded with the traditional LCCI awards, such as Krišjānis Valdemārs' award "Latvians, go sail the sea!" and Sprīdītis prize. The LCCI's Export Council selects the best exporters every year.
During the afternoon session entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to participate in discussions with practitioners, South-, East- and Central Asian market experts – Jūlija Pastušenko, Senior Economist of the Monetary Policy Department at the Bank of Latvia, Maija Kurte, representative of the LCCI in China, representative of Linearis Ltd., Baiba Pužule, exports representative of NP Foods Ltd., Līga Treija, logistics manager at Profi Logistics Ltd., and Jānis Garančs, Board Member of Aloja Starkelsen Ltd.
Rodney Ludema, U.S. Department of State Chief Economist, Artis Pabriks, Member of the EU Parliament, and Baiba Rubess, Member of Citadele Bank's Supervisory Council, will share information and their opinions about the U.S. and EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement during the closing part of the Forum.
EXPORT DAY 2015 will take place on 26 February 2015 at the Citadele Bank's Conference Centre (2a Republikas laukums, entrance from Eksporta Street). The Forum will be opened at 10:00 am. Agenda and other additional information about the Forum is available on LCCI's website: www.chamber.lv.