These days in Riga, Latvia, you’re more likely to bump into world-class real estate tycoons, fashion designers and computer software entrepreneurs than world-class movie directors, philosophers or ballet dancers, but you’ll still find the same dynamic spirit and cosmopolitan environment that defined the city immediately prior to the first and second world wars.

Throughout the centuries, Riga has been a key location on Baltic trade routes in northeastern Europe. Although Riga was one of the last major trading centers around the Baltic Sea to be conquered by crusaders-some 803 years ago-it subsequently became a Hanseatic trading post and then a German provincial town. St. Peter’s Cathedral and the stunning Melngalvju Nams (House of Blackheads) stand in testimony to this time.

The latter name derives from an exclusive gentleman’s club dating from the 14th century that catered to bachelor merchants. To this day, images of the club’s trademark, a turbaned Moor, appear in bas-reliefs both outside and inside the restored building. Riga was at the crossroads of the north again in the late 1800s, when students came from Germany and as far east as Vladivostok to study at its prestigious Polytechnic University.

The professors of architecture, as well as their best students, designed some of the most innovative facades of that era in Europe. Take a stroll along Smilshu or Elizabetes street in Riga to experience German Jugendstil architecture in its fullest glory. One can be overwhelmed by the svelte maidens supporting all forms of lintels and balconies alongside the gargantuan lilies and sphinxes. Even though most of these facades are about 100 years old, they’re not recommended for Puritans at heart. Certainly, UNESCO’s architectural committee was open-minded in 1999 when it designated Riga a World Cultural Heritage Site for having the largest collection of fine art nouveau buildings of any city in the world.

Nowadays, the construction of innovative buildings has been revived, as the economy of the country is booming once again. Latvia has experienced an average annual growth in gross national product of more than 7 percent over the last three years, and this trend is predicted to last for several more years.

Whereas Latvia’s economic lifeblood in 1993 could be summarized in three words – “transiting Russian oil” – throughout the course of the last 10 years the economy has diversified. Not only has Latvia exported a great deal of cutting-edge Nordic-design furniture over the past five years, the country has also been a significant recipient of software development contracts, including some from IBM and Boeing. Exigen, a San Francisco company, is currently overseeing several such orders.
In the not-too-distant past, officials often needed a little extra “incentive” from potential investors to be helpful; racketeering was a problem as hoods threatened foreign-owned businesses; and restaurants were forbidden from printing menus or signs in foreign languages.

Now, most barriers to direct foreign investment have disappeared. Whereas 14 years ago, Latvia’s value-added wood exports were limited to occasional contract work for Ikea, today the industry is blossoming. Among other U.S. companies, the Jeld-Wen company of Oregon has been producing millions of doors and windows in Latvia for export to Western Europe and Scandinavia since 1994, while Rigas Tonis sends 30 containers of moldings, furniture panels, doors and door frames to the United States every month. Other prominent Latvian exports are pharmaceuticals (particularly to the East), chemical substances and small-scale industrial equipment, such as centrifuges.

The Riga film industry has been reviving as well, after breaking from the Soviet Union and its coproduction agreements with Mosfilm. Riga’s animators are well-known internationally, having most recently participated in the making of the Academy Award nominee The Triplets of Belleville with French film producers.

Due to Riga’s Northern European location, the nearby Scandinavian countries have laid claim to certain sectors of the city’s operation. After downing a few Aldaris beers, brewed by a joint Swedish-Finnish venture, one could mistake the central parts of the city for downtown Oslo, Norway, as one passes Narvesen convenience stores and Rimi supermarkets, Statoil gas stations, Nordea bank offices and Reval or Park hotels. The country seems to have inherited some dominant beauty genes from the Swedish occupiers of the 17th century, too, as several Latvians can be found among the world’s top models.

Just don’t make the mistake of buying a dozen roses if you fall for one; in accordance with one of many quaint pagan traditions, an even number of flowers signifies “completion,” so at the very least, your gesture would signify the end of the relationship you might be trying to start. Bouquets of even-numbered flowers are found only at the flower stands adjacent to the cemetery.

Since 1991, Latvians have made great strides in casting off remnants of their Soviet yoke, from melting down or selling off their Lenin statues, to learning English (which many in the business and political arenas speak freely nowadays), to
creating a normal environment for conducting business. Land and real estate now can be purchased directly by foreigners, while corporate taxes, currently at 19 percent, are the lowest in Europe. Nonetheless, anyone doing business in Latvia is well-advised to enlist good legal counsel, lists of whom can be provided by the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia.

Whereas air travel even 11 years ago required surviving the headache of transiting through Moscow, today it is quite simple. Flights from the United States, with only one stopover, can be made through London, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Frankfurt and Prague, among others. Austrian Air offers a pleasant extended stopover opportunity in Vienna for those seeking a full turn-of-the-20th century experience.

Boris Zemtzov is the author of The Merry Baker of Riga;
An American Entrepreneur Ventures Into Eastern Europe
(Stanford Oak Press).
Amusing account of one of the first direct investment ventures in Riga, 1992-1999.

Investment

The Latvian Development Agency is a state agency that provides all essential information
for the foreign direct investor.

Latvian Development Agency, Perses 2
Riga LV-1042, tel 371 703 9400, fax 371 703 9401
www.lda.gov.lv/eng, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Visas
No visas are required for multiple entries up to 90 days over the course of six months. For individuals establishing businesses, long-term visas can be obtained.

Foreigner’s Service Center of the Citizenship
and Migration Board, F-2, Alunana 1
tel 371 721 96 56, www.pmlp.gov.lv or www.am.gov.lv
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Embassy of Latvia, 4325 17th St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20011,
tel 202 726 8213
fax 202 726 6785
www.latvia-usa.org

Additional Sources of Information

American Chamber of Commerce of Latvia
Torna 4, 2A, Office 301, tel/fax 721 22 04
www.amcham.lv
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

www.latviansonline.com
Current information in English on Latvia, Latvian-Americans and Latvia-related events taking place in the United States.