Latvia signed EXPO 2017 Participation Contract

During the visit, Zhoshybayev met with Minister of Transport of Latvia Uldis Augulis, Chairman of the Commerce and Industry Chamber of this country, Commissioner of the National Pavilion at the EXPO-2017 Jānis Endziņš as well as with Latvian businessmen and mass media.

As the Secretariat of EXPO 2017 informs, the sides discussed the state and prospects of bilateral interaction between the two countries and terms of participation of Latvia and local companies in ‘green technologies’ at EXPO 2017.

Touching upon the theme of the oncoming exhibition, Jānis Endziņš informed that Latvia strives to be the ‘greenest’ country in the world by 2020. The share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption in Latvia made 37.1% having become the second highest indicator in the EU after Sweden (52.1%). Under the European Climate Change Programme Latvia was allocated 755 mln euros.

The Latvian side noted the advantages of the country’s location as well as the promising projects of Latvian enterprises in ‘green’ energy.  In this regard, the Latvian Pavilion will be named as “Meeting Point Latvia - Energy is in our Nature”.

According to Jānis Endziņš, Latvia is not a member of the International Bureau of Exhibitions and has participated in the EXPOs for several times only. The confirmation of participation in the Astana EXPO 2017 proves Latvia’s interest and special friendly attitude to Kazakhstan. Latvia was one of the first countries to support the Kazakh Leader’s initiative to launch Green Bridge program.

Following the meeting, Zhoshybayev and Endziņš signed the Contract on participation of Latvia in EXPO 2017.