Chisinau interested in Riga’s experience in attracting investments

A delegation of the municipality of Riga met on Wednesday, November 8 with the authorities of Chisinau. The discussions were based on the experience of the Latvian capital city as regards attracting investments and development of local infrastructure. The municipalities of Chisinau and Riga have the same number of inhabitants – about 700 thousand. The budgetary allocations per capita are however incomparable: 10-fold higher in Riga. The head of the Municipality Development Department of Riga, Igors Graurs said that the average wage in Latvia exceeds USD 600. In the capital city it is even higher due to the economic development of the city. The annual foreign investments amount to USD 2 bln. According to Graurs, the development of the city’s infrastructure is carried out according to a 25-year term strategy, which was approved by the municipal authorities, but only after examining those 22 thousand proposals submitted to the local authorities. The Latvian capital has an additional development plan for 12 years. Igors Graurs said that Riga has a large local autonomy and the president of the country is not interfering in making decisions, including investments. The central and local administration are independent, the head of Riga’s Development Department emphasized. According to him, the budget or different development projects are not coordinated with the central authorities. “The president can only propose something, but we are the ones to decide upon the issue”, Graurs mentioned, specifying that in case of very expensive projects, the municipal authorities collaborate with the state as equal partners. The Latvian official declared that Riga could instruct the specialists from Chisinau in European integration and obtaining European funds, but they must compulsorily be proficient in English and IT. The delegation from Latvia participates in the first Moldovan-Latvian International Forum “Public participation in the decision-making process” held on November 8-9 in Chisinau. The Forum is organized by CONTACT Center, Conflicts Settlement Institute INRECO from Moldova, LAPAS NGOs from Latvia, with the support of Soros Foundation (Latvia and Moldova), Eurasia Foundation Office in Moldova, Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and the Republic of Moldova.