On Wednesday, March 24th Riga City Council decided to form the Riga Investment and Tourism Agency, which will begin operations in April. The main goals of the agency will be to attract foreign investments to the capital, popularise Riga internationally and develop its tourism.
“Until now, there has been no institution in Riga working to open the capital to international business. Today, Riga is taking a big step towards a surge in attracting investments to the capital. I began work on forming this kind of agency on my very first day as mayor, and I am glad to already see the result of this work,” Riga City Council Chairman Mārtiņš Staķis said in a press conference.
The mayor of Riga emphasised – to win the competition with other cities, you cannot just work well, you have to work great. “One of the main challenges in coming years will be attracting foreign investments. We expect to offer much better services than other cities in the region and that we’ll be more attractive to investors. This new municipal agency will work closely with the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, to reach clear goals and results together,” said Staķis.
Rolands Bogdanovs, Director of the Investment Department of the City Development Department, said that it is expected to slowly attract a total of 32 employees to the agency, who will be involved in attracting investments, marketing tourism and creating an image of Riga. “The agency is expected to work creatively and with innovative methods, setting ambitious targets for attracting foreign direct investments, hosting international conferences and other events. We plan to start work and recruitment from April 1st, so I advise enthusiastic and patriotic people to take the opportunity to apply for work on the agency's team. We expect to be able to fully start working in the summer,” said Bogdanovs.
Up to this point tourism, brand management and investment attracting duties were delegated to various institutions of Riga City Council – the Foreign Affairs Office, the City Development Department and the Riga Tourism Development Bureau. It was therefore decided that it is appropriate to combine these tasks by delegating implementation to a single body, as this makes better use of administrative and financial resources and ensures greater efficiency in the performance of tasks, avoiding the potential risk of overlapping competencies.
The new institution is going to be an agency, because this legal form provides more transparency and clarity in decision making and project realisation. An open tender for the position of Riga Investment and Tourism Agency Director will be issued. The agency will operate under the Riga City Council Chairman.
Published: 26.03.2021.
