At its meeting of 21 May, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the Action Plan for Improvement of the Business Environment for 2019-2022, which includes a total of 40 measures, the responsibility for the implementation of which within specified time limits lies with a number of ministries and authorities subordinate to them, as well as the State Chancellery and the Cross-Sectoral Coordination Centre.
“The vision of the Ministry of Economics is to create an excellent business environment and to move towards an innovative economic model. The purpose of the Action Plan for Improvement of the Business Environment is to create accessible and understandable services and a lower administrative burden for businesses. During this period, we have paid special attention to promotion of innovation, human capital and protection of investor rights, which are important components of a developed business environment,” emphasises Ralfs Nemiro, the Minister of Economics.
The plan defines the following action lines for further work on the improvement of the business environment – customer-oriented public administration, digitalisation of services, competitiveness of the tax system, openness of the business environment, legality, promotion of innovation.
World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 places Latvia on the 19th place among 190 countries, which was secured by the previously performed reforms. “Considering the challenges related to international competitiveness, as well as the problems identified by businesses, it is necessary to move forward with the cycle of reforms and to implement long-term oriented economic development activities, thus creating a competitive business environment in Latvia, which is evaluated accordingly by investors,” points out the Minister of Economics.
The Action Plan for Improvement of the Business Environment has been developed in close cooperation with public institutions and organisations representing businesses. It includes measures developed based on the challenges identified by social, cooperation partners and public institutions, as well as taking into account the challenges noted in Doing Business and the Global Competitiveness Index. At the same time, the action lines identified in the recommendations prepared on an annual basis by the Foreign Investors’ Council in Latvia and reflecting the challenges identified by foreign investors in Latvia have been taken into account, when drafting the Action Plan for Improvement of the Business Environment.