Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska, Country Managing Partner of PwC Latvia, has been elected as the Chairperson of the FICIL Executive Board. Zlata replaces Māris Gruzniņš (Schwenk Latvija), who has had to step down from the FICIL Board, as Mr. Gruzniņš fulfilled the maximum term available to participate in FICIL Board. Māris Gruzniņš expressed profound gratitude to all FICIL members and the Executive Board during the most recent FICIL Annual General Meeting in February, emphasising the outstanding expertise and work FICIL members contribute to bettering the investment environment.

 

Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska: “There are many challenges countries, societies as well as businesses are facing at this moment – we are still dealing with the pandemic, geopolitical events affect decisions being made on all fronts, EU focus on green economy development and digitalisation processes underline many focus areas. FICIL has many tasks ahead in this regard – investors need a stable, predictable, and secure environment to grow businesses, this in turn contributes greatly to the overall economic development of Latvia. Our focus going forward will be on energy security and green deal goals, as well as labour force availability and reduction of shadow economy, this can all be realised with though out reforms in the public sector and digitalisation.

So much has been achieved over the last few years, where FICIL has actively participated – insolvency proceeding reform, creation of a Court of Economic Affairs, financial sector overhaul, higher education reform and more. FICIL work groups are more active than ever, I believe we will be able to continue implementing positive change in the business environment to foster a more attractive and secure investment environment for all.”

 

Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska has been on the FICIL Executive Board since 2020 and has been performing the vice-chair duties during this period. Ints Krasts, Board member of SEB Banka, and Reinhold Schneider, Chairman of the Management Board of Schwenk Latvija, will serve as Vice-Chairpersons of the Executive Board. 

Since the establishment of FICIL in 1999, a high-level meeting between foreign investors and the Government of Latvia takes place each year to discuss the most important tasks for bettering Latvia’s business environment. The next High Council meeting will take place this September. Energy security, implementation of the EU’s Green Deal, reducing shadow economy, dealing with the availability of labour force and skills will all be key topics that FICIL plans to discuss with the Government of Latvia.

FICIL is a non-governmental organization, which unites largest foreign-owned companies from different industries, foreign trade chambers and Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. FICIL’s mission is to provide recommendations for public sector to improve Latvia’s business environment and competitiveness in attracting foreign investment using experience and knowledge of its members.