site.btaLatvian President Levits: One of Objectives of Latvia As 3SI Host Country Will be to Make Region Attractive for More Investment

Sofia, July 9 (BTA) - Asked by the Bulgarian News Agency about
Latvia's priorities as the next host of the Three Seas
Initiative (3SI), Latvian President Egils Levits said that he
and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev have spoken about the next
steps to be made after the 3SI Sixth Summit in Sofia. Bulgaria
handed over the hosting of 3SI to Latvia at a formal ceremony on
 Friday. Levits said that the achievements were very
considerable and that what has been attained by the previous
summits will be used at the future summit in Riga. Also, focus
will be directed to private investments which are very
important, Levits said. He spoke at a news conference at the end
 of the 3SI summit in Sofia.

Levits went on to say that the public investments under 3SI are
very important instruments but not are not enough. He said it
will be one of the goals of the Latvian hosting of 3SI to make
the region attractive for more investment. These should be not
just investments as such, but investments in concrete
infrastructure projects at the focus of 3SI.

The Latvian head of State said that the participants in the
summit discussed the need to engage the public, young people in
particular. Levits said that the region as geography is always
there but the region in people's minds is an idea and this idea
about 3SI needs to be developed and expanded by the young
people. He said the 3SI member states need to look in concrete
terms how to attract private investment in the region, how to
develop the 3SI Investment Fund, how to engage the public in the
 implementation of the projects in this particular special part
of Europe and the EU.

Levits described as a big challenge the hosting of the next 3SI
summit in Riga. The official said that Latvia is a very
innovative country and is looking forward to implementing the
new technologies to support economic as well as technological
initiatives. "We are using the experience from these six summits
 to make a big step forward," Levits said and thanked Radev for
the organization of the forum in Sofia. The Latvian President
said he is going home with many interesting ideas that will be
discussed at the 3SI summit next year in Riga. NV/ZH