Academic Centre
On 11 March 2020, within the framework of the 78th International Scientific Conference of the University of Latvia (UL), the UL Faculty of Business, Management and Economics (FBME) Productivity Research Institute "University of Latvia think tank LV PEAK" (UL think tank LV PEAK), in cooperation with the European Commission (EC) Representation in Latvia, organised a section dedicated to the National Productivity Dialogue – "Increasing Productivity in the Risk of Growth".
The special section was opened by Andris Kužnieks, Acting Head of the EC Representation in Latvia, and Prof. Gundars Bērziņš, Chair of the Productivity Council LV PEAK, Dean of the UL FBME. The section was led by Acting Director of the UL think tank LV PEAK Prof. Inna Šteinbuka. The presentations of the reports were followed by a discussion involving researchers, politicians, NGO representatives and entrepreneurs.
"At a time when, due to the spread of COVID-19 and other risk factors, the growth of the economy of Latvia is slowing down, the only thing that can take us out of the recession is a productivity increase," emphasized Prof. Inna Šteinbuka.
Andris Kužnieks, Acting Head of the EC Representation in Latvia, said: "The European Commission has set an ambitious goal: to make Europe a climate neutral continent by 2050. It also has the support of the Member States, including Latvia. Europe strives to be digital, green and to close gaps and barriers to social and legal inequalities. Productivity is very important in achieving all these goals – there is a lot to be done and resources must be managed intelligently and with the greatest possible return. Then everyone will be the winner."
At the conference, section reports were presented by Pēteris Vilks, Head of the Cross-sectoral Coordination Centre of Republic of Latvia; Mārtiņš Zemītis, European Semester Officer and economic analyst at the EC Representation in Latvia; Arnis Sauka, Professor and Director of the Sustainable Business Center; Juris Binde, President of SIA LMT, Member of the Productivity Council LV PEAK, Professor of the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences; Prof. Gundars Bērziņš, Dean of the UL FBME, Chair of the Productivity Council LV PEAK; Līga Meņģelsone, Director General of the Employers' Confederation of Latvia; Jānis Endziņš, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Dainis Gašpuitis, Economist of the SEB bank and Oļegs Krasnopjorovs, Chief Economist of the Bank of Latvia.
The special section was organised with the aim to continue the Productivity Dialogue initiated by the Productivity Council LV PEAK, involving researchers and partners from the public administration of Latvia and NGOs. According to the 29 October 2019 decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia, the UL think tank LV PEAK represents the Republic of Latvia in the network of National Productivity Boards of European Union Member States, which obliges the UL think tank LV PEAK to promote the Productivity Dialogue in Latvian society to enable various stakeholders to discuss the country's productivity problems and identify critical elements for their solution.
Another task of the UL think tank LV PEAK, as a member of the network of National Productivity Boards of the EU Member States, is to prepare the annual productivity report (Report). Therefore, the additional goal of the special section was to discuss the main directions of the Report, outlining the necessary research areas.
The presentations of the reports are available here: https://www.bvef.lu.lv/index.php?id=70088
