In Latvia Yesterday, 18:142LDDK: The government’s declaration lacks ambitious goals in the economy

LDDK president Andris Bite says that after today’s talks, it will be vitally important how the government’s action plan will be formed. LDDK expressed the opinion that the government’s declaration lacks a clear vision and ambitious goals in the economy and the directions in which it will be developed.

At the same time, LDDK emphasized that it is necessary to include measurable achievable results related to investment attraction, exports, productivity.

Changes in tax policy, reduction of bureaucracy, improvement of lending to the economy and measures to promote the availability of human resources should be provided as means to achieve the goal.

In LDDK’s opinion, the introduction or vision part of the government’s declaration should be made as an ambitious and bold message to Latvian society, taking into account where Latvia is at the moment, and outlining forecasts of where the country can be if we act purposefully and decisively.

The proposals presented by LDDK were made in cooperation with LDDK members, large employers, and experts, and are divided into three groups, which reflect employers’ understanding of the priority directions of Latvia’s development – care for people, care for the business environment and care for efficient state administration. Goals have been set for each priority, each of which has subordinate tasks with clear achievable results and impact on the Latvian economy, for which numerous expert opinions and proposals have previously been provided in working groups and on the Legal Acts portal.

Director General of LDDK Kaspars Gorks states that

“Latvia cannot afford a mediocre and modest action plan or blindly follow the example of other countries. If we want to develop the culture of innovation in the country, then this government declaration must be like an innovation”.

Gorkš says that LDDK offers to use sustainability as an approach in which we organize the work of state administration and cooperate so that guesses and expectations are turned into data-based forecasts and so that words turn into deeds with results faster.

Taking care of people, the priorities of the LDDK are equally accessible, high-quality and efficient health care and education system, tax incentives for employers’ investments in the development of employees’ skills, increasing the limits for tax incentives to cover the costs of employee benefits.

On the other hand, in taking care of the business environment, LDDK’s priorities are competitive labor taxes and related costs, measures to limit the shadow economy in accordance with the state tax policy, which motivates the payment of taxes, amendments to the labor law to promote competitiveness in the Baltic region, measures promoting the availability of labor, competitive energy costs, small businesses creation of a tax regime and the involvement of municipalities in business development in the regions.

At the same time, in taking care of efficient state administration, the priorities of LDDK are reducing the bureaucratic burden, increasing the efficiency of the state civil service, result-oriented dialogue between the state and social partners, as well as cooperation promoting public trust in the government.

LDDK is a representative of national level employers and a socio-economic negotiation partner of the Cabinet of Ministers. The mission of LDDK is to create a business-friendly environment in Latvia, promoting the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and representing employers within the framework of social dialogue at the national, European Union and international levels.