The “Green Channel” is a new initiative approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The main purpose of the initiative started by the Ministry of Economics and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia is to relieve administrative burdens for high value-added investments in priority sectors:
- ICT
- Bio economy
- Smart materials and Photonics, Technology
- Biomedicine and Pharmacy
- GBS
- Smart Energy and Mobility
- Construction
- Transport and logistics
It shortens the time for administrative procedures by half for territorial planning, residence permits and foreign workforce attraction. The companies must fulfil 3 out of 4 criteria to apply for the support:
- The investment amount in 3 years should be at least 10 million euros in Riga.
- The investment project should create 100 new workplaces or 75 new workplaces in Riga with Latvia’s monthly average salary of the previous calendar year (published on the website of the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia) multiplied with a coefficient of 2.
- The planned product and service export amount in three years after the launch of the investment project should be larger than 5 million euros.
- The planned investment in R&D and employee competence development should be over 250 thousand euros.