Filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis was named as “Riga Citizen of the Year 2024”

Dear colleagues!

Residents of Riga!

November is a special month for Latvia – historically it is the month of battles fought and victories won, whose participants we remember forever, and the birth of our country, to whose founders we are eternally grateful for our Latvia.

During Patriotism Month, we address the residents and guests of Riga with the originally created motto of the National Armed Forces and the National Guard and now widely appreciated by the public – "My Latvia. My Responsibility". In a few words, it symbolises the most important thing – we, individually and collectively, are building our Latvia.

Latvia has been a full member of NATO and the European Union for 20 years. This is increasingly reflected in the way we think and act. We are moving away from the Communalia mindset, when everything belonged to everyone and no one wanted to take care of it. Today's residents of Riga is an active owner of his or her city, and Riga City Council also draws inspiration from neighbourhood initiatives. Together we are getting better. Good ideas on how to make the city more liveable and welcoming are developed in cooperation with the people living in the neighbourhoods.

And here I would like to add: this cooperation will become even better the moment we succeed in eradicating the servitude of the letter within ourselves. Let us remember that every decision we make, every action we take, has a direct impact on the daily lives of our citizens, makes our city attractive to visitors and enables businesses to work more productively.

Countries where societies are more prosperous are those where there is a spirit of mutual trust. Countries that do not have excessive controls and disproportionate bureaucracy, which often hinder faster and better communication between city councils and their citizens. There are and always will be difficulties, but when faced with them, I invite you to think about how we CAN do things. Let's not look for reasons that hold us back. Let's look for ways to push back, to think differently, to find solutions.

With every job we have done, we have helped Riga to be reborn as a metropolis of the Northern Europe. Together, we, the residents of Riga, have become the force that allows our city to endure change. Riga regains its Western city features and the names of Latvian greats in street names. Monuments that have symbolised foreign powers disappear forever.

Colleagues!

A day of celebration is a good time to say "thank you", appreciate what has been done and thank the team for what we have achieved together.

This year has seen the biggest ever street repairs in Riga. 600 thousand square metres of street pavement repaired - seven times more than last year! This has been achieved by Riga City Council working closely with the Government and jointly finding financing from both its own resources and EU funds. We have proved that careful planning and hard work pay off.

We have promised that Riga's historic centre will be free from truck transit, and we are consistently delivering on this - the construction of a new flyover from Tvaika Street to Kundziņsala, which together with the Eastern Highway and Daudersala flyover is a part of Riga's inner ring road, is in full swing, making the city centre more convenient for our people.

The new look of the Mūkusala promenade is already beginning to emerge clearly - with children's playgrounds, viewing areas, a modern and comfortable environment for walking and relaxing. Just as it should be in a modern European capital.

The area on the left bank of the Daugava around the National Library of Latvia is another landmark of Riga, where the improvement of the promenade was promised for years, but not completed. Now we have done that, I hope that by next spring we will be able to make the new, landscaped promenade accessible to residents and visitors of Riga.

This month, the reconstruction of the Zemitans Bridge marks the start of the promised overhauls of the bridges of Riga. Vanšu and Gaisa bridges, Vairogu flyover are next in line. Our work plan is to make largest bridges of Riga in order over the next five years.

This year, by signing a Memorandum of Co-operation with the largest Latvian universities - the University of Latvia, Riga Stradins University and Riga Technical University, we have laid a solid foundation for the revitalisation of the Knowledge Mile, making Riga a modern centre of knowledge, innovation and students not only in the Baltic States and Northern Europe, but also on a global scale. Riga is clearly defining that we are a city that wants to make money from knowledge, and we want Riga to be the place where new European and globally competitive solutions and products with high added value are created, making cities and countries more prosperous and the lives of our people more comfortable and prosperous.

The well-being of Latvia's citizens depends to a large extent on how well entrepreneurs can operate in each particular local government. And Riga has much to be proud of! The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Latvia's largest business organisation, has recognised Riga as the most business-friendly city in the country. This is an acknowledgment to our work in creating a business-friendly environment and changing the culture of cooperation in Riga City Council.

This year, much has been achieved in education - I am pleased that Riga schools have successfully switched to teaching exclusively in Latvian. But more than 80 kindergartens and schools in Riga have been renovated this year to ensure a well-organised learning environment.

We have invested in renovating Riga's existing social care centres, as well as in a new day care centre and group apartment house on Priedaines Street, which was opened this autumn.

At the end of July, Latvia was hit by its strongest summer storm yet, which devastated Jurmala and also hit Riga. I would like to praise Riga's work on civil protection - thanks to our focused work on this vital area of public safety, we have become stronger, smarter and more professional in civil protection, and we are ready to ensure the safety of our people.

Riga as the capital city has a great responsibility to protect our people in a civil or military crisis, and we are grateful that the Latvian National Guard is a solid co-operation partner for our services - the Civil Protection Board and the Riga Local Government Police.

Above all, Riga is and will be the capital of culture.

Together with the National Library of Latvia, we are preparing for the 500th anniversary of the first book printed in Latvian, which we will celebrate in 2025. Imagine the significance of this event: the first book in Latvian! Nobody realised it at that time, but this book was also essentially the first step towards our country!

In the summer, Riga will be already reflecting and resounding at the XIII Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival, and in August Riga will celebrate its 824th birthday - with summer concerts in Riga's parks, which have already become a tradition, with crowds filling the streets of Riga.

This summer Riga celebrated rally festivities - for the first time a WRC rally event was held in Latvia and we started it in Riga. Next year, we will also continue to make sure that Riga hosts both big and small events in the world of sport: traditionally, the streets of Riga will be filled with participants of the Riga Marathon in late May, and the European Basketball Championships will kick off at the end of August. I am proud that Riga will be one of the host cities of EuroBasket 2025.

In a word - Riga lives, grows, learns, rejoices, celebrates and sports!

Friends,

We have taken care not only for our city. The war in Ukraine continues and Ukrainians are facing a third winter of war, the most difficult yet, as Russia has destroyed more than half of the country's energy resources. Tomorrow will be the 1000th day since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the aggressor. We will commemorate it with a moment of silence throughout Latvia.

We have no right to get tired of the war, it continues, the brutality of the aggressor knows no bounds and Ukrainians are still forced to seek a safe haven for themselves and for their children. Since day one of the war, Riga has provided a home for those Ukrainians who have found their way here, not only shelter, but also the opportunity to find work in Riga, free tickets on public transport and other practical support.

This year, Riga City Council has provided long-term housing for Ukrainians fleeing the war.

We stand with the Ukrainian people, we will send them help and we will give refuge to those who are forced to flee their homes in Ukraine.

Praise Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!

Colleagues,

The world situation and the border with the aggressor country require Latvia and Riga to be constantly vigilant.

We must be absolutely clear: this is NOT a time for compromise. We want to live in Europe, we support democratic values, so no compromises and no half-measures are acceptable. February will mark 35 years since the Riga City Council held its first meeting in the restored Latvia. Let us make sure that, decades from now, our achievements are also remembered with a good word in our celebratory speeches.

On 18 November 1918, 38 members of the People's Council chose to vote in favour of establishing their OWN country. On 4 May 1990, 138 members of the Supreme Soviet Council voted in favour of the restoration of the independence of Latvia. The number eight, like the number of infinity, accompanies us, promising Latvia a long and great future.

Things could have turned out differently back then - but through the unity of the Baltic Chain of Freedom and the Barricades, we regained and kept our country. Through democratic elections and making the right choices when they had to be made, we have sustained and built our Latvia and our Riga.

We need to remember this every day, because soon our voters will once again be choosing who to entrust with the keys to Riga for the next four years. I would like to thank the Riga City Council members from all parties that have received the support of the voters - we have worked constructively so that the microclimate in the political governance of Riga is also good. This is the most important thing - to be collegial in our daily work and to adhere to national and democratic values.

Latvia is ours and we are Latvia. We Latvians have no other land. That's why we need to protect this. We must stay here and be. Raising children and building tomorrow.

But today, let's celebrate a holiday, colleagues!

Let us be with our family and friends, with those closest to us.

May we be strengthened by the inspiration we received at the patriotic concert at the Victory Park on Latvian Independence Day a week ago. May the candles lit in honour of the soldiers and guardians of Latvia remind us that we, too, carry a flame within us that enables our Latvia to be strong, secure and mighty.

Let Riga resound! May we be happy, positive and active!

Let's make Riga better!