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The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) is an Investment promotion agency that seeks to promote investment to Latvia.
Latvijas Investīciju un attīstības aģentūra | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | September 1993 |
Headquarters | Pērses iela 2, Riga |
Employees | 270 |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | Ministry of Economics (Latvia) |
Website |
www |
Established in 1993, it acts under the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia.
LIAA seeks to promote the competitiveness and export capacity of Latvian companies on the international market, promote the growth of foreign investment, and the implementation of national tourism development and innovation policy.
One of LIAA’s subactivities is attracting investment from foreign investors for Latvian investment projects and their further development. Examples of investment projects include businesses operating in Latvia, prospective new businesses, as well as state and municipal projects.
Priority areas for attracting foreign investment include metalworking and mechanical engineering, transport and logistics, information technologies, life sciences, health care, wood industry, green technology, and food industry. LIAA also supports the attraction of foreign investment for manufacturing projects that fall outside the priority areas.
Polaris process makes foreign investment attraction to Latvia more efficient by determining investment target sectors, summarizing and updating the newest findings in scientific fields that are related to their respective sectors, suggesting projects to foreign investors, and managing collaborations between Latvian national authorities, municipalities, the private sector, and scientific institutions.
LIAA organises activities contributing to export-oriented business development:
LIAA organizes business trips to foreign countries, which includes business forums, workshops, entrepreneur roundtable discussions, contact exchanges, visiting trade fairs, individual meetings with potential business partners, as well as informal events.
LIAA organizes export seminars that deal with the key elements of export and provide information on news and trends on foreign markets, as well as the European Single Market.
In 2016, Tourism Development State Agency (TAVA) was added to LIAA, which now forms the Tourism departments. The aim of the department is to promote the development of Latvian tourism products and services, make Latvia internationally known, position Latvia as an attractive tourist destination, and promote the competitiveness of Latvian tourism.
LIAA foreign economic representative offices are located in:
Starting October 2016, 11 business incubators and 9 support units are active in Latvia ( Bauska, Daugavpils, Jelgava, Jēkabpils, Jūrmala, Kuldīga, Liepāja, Madona, Ogre, Rēzekne, Sigulda, Talsi, Valmiera, Ventspils, and a creative industries incubator in Riga), which provide support for startups and their development.
The goal of the innovation incentive programme is to encourage people to start innovative businesses, using awards as an incentive mechanism. In the same way, it is planned to inform society on developments related to innovations and their potential, as a result encouraging society and entrepreneurs to focus on developing and using innovative solutions, as well as increasing the share of innovative businesses in the economy and motivating them to start businesses in the areas defined and prioritized in the Smart Specialization Strategy of Latvia.
On February 29, 2008, Enterprise Europe Network started its activities as one of the LIAA departments.[ citation needed]
Export and Innovation Awards, Creative Business Cup, Latvian Tourism Forum, Mechanical Engineering and Metalworking Business Forum.