From February 5 to 10, national conference of Russia of one of the world’s leading pharmacy companies - Sanofi takes place in Riga. It gathers 800 medical representatives of Sanofi from the entire Russia in the hotel Radisson Blu Hotel Latvia. The conference is organized by KPM group from Russia in cooperation with Baltic Travel Group and Radisson Blu Latvia.

For the summer season, Latvian national airline airBaltic will increase the number of flights to Moscow Domodedovo for convenient travel via North Hub Riga to/from destinations in Scandinavia, Baltics, and Europe.

The multi-partner loyalty programme BalticMiles launched its BalticMiles zone in Arena Riga a month ago to provide extra privileges, service and exclusive offers for the members of BalticMiles. This move was identified by independent airline trends analysts at airlinetrends.com as an innovative trend in the world and “part of new breed of perks and privileges that are added to brands’ regular offerings”.

airBaltic Training has introduced a new training programme for business aviation pilots. Building on the experience in training aviation personnel, airBaltic Training has expanded into a new area.

During a foreign visit on October 6, Rīga City Council Deputy Chairman Andris Ameriks and other representatives of Rīga, met with St. Petersburg Vice Governor Mikhail Oseevsky.

The annual high-level foreign and security policy forum Rīga Conference 2011 will reconvene in Riga's House of the Blackheads on September 16-17. The conference will open with Latvian, polish, Lithuanian, Estonian and Finnish prime ministers' debate on post-crisis challenges to the stability, co-operation, development of the Baltic Sea region countries, as well as new security challenges to the EU and NATO.

Latvian British Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom on the 25th of May 2011 is hosting its first business conference in Riga: BREAKING THE BARRIERS AND FINDING NEW PATHS TO SUCCESS: Doing business between the United Kingdom and Latvia.

In 2010, RIGA International Airport has provided service with the punctuality ratio at 99 percent, according to the figures on air passenger traffic. Despite the winter snows, RIGA International Airport was operating with high punctuality.

Riga International Airport continues to develop. According to the latest figures, the Airport has an increase in number of serviced passengers, incoming airplanes and handled cargo.

Over last fifteen years, airBaltic has continuously expanded its list of destinations. It can take you to numerous places all over Europe and now - also to the East and South. Its 2011 calendar features musicians and athletes from 12 countries airBaltic has a direct connection with.

The first Latvian-issued World Reference Atlas was well received by world's cartography experts at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2011. World Reference Atlas by Jāņa Sēta Map Publishers is the first atlas in the world which contains not only traditional information about countries and governances but also data about all autonomies. The English language version will also soon be released.

Yesterday, on September 13, the Riga Tourism Development Bureau (RTDB) organized a presentation on the tourism offering of Riga and training for working with the most comprehensive and functional informative database on the tourism offering of Riga – the portal www.liveriga.com - as a part of the BalticConnecting tourism industry work seminar. It was attended by 40 tourism specialists from six countries – Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, Norway and Georgia. During this event RTDB acquired 29 international cooperation partners, who will assist to promote the tourism offering of Riga overseas.

From September 8 to 11, the International Food Industry Fair "Riga Food 2010" is presenting innovations offered by educational and research institutions, as well as innovation support organisations in Riga and Latvia.

The 5th International Belarusian and Latvian Investment Forum "Baltic Region 2010" will take place in Riga on September 23.

On August 13, the world's 3rd biggest logistics company Kuehne + Nagel officially opened a new logistics centre at Saulrieši, outside Riga. This is the company's 55th warehouse complex in Eastern Europe, and has been set up to provide more efficient logistics services.

From November 25 to 28, Riga’s Skonto Hall (1a Melngaiļa Street) is holding the autumn exhibition/fair “Made in Latvia 2010” to present big and small, well-known and lesser-known Latvian producers and service providers.

The first half of 2011 will see 21 exhibitions take place at the International Exhibition Centre in Ķīpsala, Riga, covering a wide range of economically important industries, as well as leisure and lifestyle events.

In the second half of September, Riga entrepreneurs, business and trade companies will participate in several prestigious business gatherings in Europe. Potential partners and investors will have an opportunity to learn about Latvian products at seven large-scale exhibitions:

Following the success of “Buy Latvia. Buy the Baltics”, the Latvian Tourism Development Agency in cooperation with AirBaltic will introduce a new concept of combining workshops and seminars with both suppliers and buyers. "Hands-on" experiences in Riga - fast developing into the Capital of the North, will be showcased together the vivid and green heart of undiscovered Latvia and the neighboring Baltic countries Estonia and Lithuania.

This July, amendments to the Immigration law came into force providing residence permits for up to five years to foreigners investing significant amounts in the development of the Latvian economy.

The University of Latvia now issues a Certificate in the Russian Language recognised by Russian authorities. The document grants the opportunity to receive Russian citizenship and make a business career in the Russian Federation.

Riga. European Regions Airline Association (ERA) is holding Air Safety Work Group meeting in Riga, Latvia, on Wednesday 30 June 2010. The event is hosted by airBaltic airline, a member of ERA and the winner of the ERA 2009/10 Airline of the Year Gold Award.

At an auction in May, the joint-stock “Swedbank” acquired the wood processing company “Laiko Ltd.’s” plant in Malpils Region, just one hour away from Riga by car.

Natural gas giant, the Russian company “Gazprom” this summer will open a Baltic branch office in Riga. This is the biggest foreign investment in Riga’s real estate market this year.

In the beginning of June, businessmen from Riga and other places of Latvia will take part in five significant contact exchange events organized by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia. These events will provide potential investors and partners with an opportunity to find useful contacts and offers.

The Latvian manufacturer of multi-hull yachts “CATRI” has begun to work on a new-generation trimaran, which has no analogs anywhere in the world.

The Latvian parliament or Saeima recently voted to make amendments to the law “On Value-Added Tax” that set lower VAT rates for accommodation services in hotels at 10 percent, instead of the 21 percent rate set previously.

In Latvia, just as in other democratic countries, both international and local commercial disputes can be resolved not only by state courts, but also by courts of arbitration. International commercial disputes in Riga are adjudicated by the Arbitration Court of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

The Latvian government has just confirmed a new Construction Bill which will improve the Latvian construction environment and make the activities of both foreign and local investors significantly easier.