The Saeima has approved the head of the National Economy, Agriculture, Environment and Regional Policy Commission of Saeima Jānis Vitenbergs (KPV.LV) as a Minister of Economics at an emergency Saeima meeting today.
As Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs has made its most important current priority providing the most effective state aid to help companies “withstand” the crisis caused by Covid-19, as well as the development of an economic recovery plan together with industry and financial experts.
“It is clear that for this period of emergency I have become a crisis minister whose greatest challenge, first of all, will be to make impossibly much and even more so that state aid instruments give the expected results to mitigate the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic on the economy. We already see that the instruments granted and their conditions need to be constantly improved in order to protect and cover as many businesses and employees as possible. Secondly, the development of a comprehensive crisis management plan should start in parallel, so that we can start implementing it during the emergency situation and protect Latvia from the depths of the crisis at which it was ten years ago. At the moment, we must act as a single mechanism, modulate a number of development scenarios and find the best instruments for promoting the economy,” points out Mr Vitenbergs.
Jānis Vitenbergs from the “KVP.LV” party was elected to the 13th Saeima, and until now led the National Economy, Agriculture, Environment and Regional Policy Commission of Saeima. 123 draft laws have been reviewed and 84 laws have been adopted under his leadership. He highlights was his most important works at the Saeima the draft laws related to the introduction of the deposit system, waste management in the capital and elsewhere in Latvia, arrangement of the energy market and other.