Subj: Latvian Mailer and AOL Chat Reminder for Sunday, September 24th (belataed)
File: D:\+www.latvians.com\JUL95\Picts\Vecriga-Domu-lauk-6744-24.jpg (61475 bytes)
DL Time (32000 bps): < 1 minute

     Sveiki, all!

    Personal matters took center stage last week... so we're just getting to the mailer now. We hope you have had a chance, like us, to enjoy watching the Olympics. Perhaps you've joined in the "controversy" about the Baltics being cut out of the NBC broadcast of the opening ceremony for commercials — it's all time delayed, so why not show all?... in Latvia's case, all the countries between Kuwait and Mexico disappeared, nothing personal, apparently. Better yet, perhaps you were watching the men's gymnastics floor exercises when Latvia won its first Olympic gold!

    In the news:

• FBI chief visits Latvia
• Swedes set to buy out rest of Unibanka
• Baltics irritated by slow EU progress
• Unibanka greed factor (minority shareholder looks to up the stakes)
• Russia uses statement about anti-ballistic missiles/nuclear defense to also take a whack at the Baltics again — not the first time this juxtapositioning has occurred
• Front-runners (including Estonia) want to stick to 2003 EU date
• Gold medal roundup from the Olympics, including Latvia's first ever gold

and regionally:

• Russian culture and education center opened in Vilnius — article mentions recent meat, milk, and grain contract with the city of Moscow... coincidence or thaw?
• Lyudmilia Putin attends exhibition opening in Kalingrad, at "Kalingrad-Koenigsburg-2000", hails its emergence as a cultural center — perhaps a move toward de-"Russification"?

    This week's links are Olympics related, of course.

    This week's picture is another in the series of subjects we never tire of, the Dom Church square in Old Riga.

    Remember, mailer or not, Lat Chat spontaneously appears every Sunday on AOL starting around 9:00/9:30pm Eastern time, lasting until 11:00/11:30pm. AOL'ers can follow this link: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: Click here: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

    Ar visu labu,

IN ACCORDANCE WITH AOL'S MAIL POLICY and good manners, please let Silvija (Silvija) know if you wish to be deleted from our mailing list. Past mailers are archived at latvians.com. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

    In keeping with the Olympic theme, check out the Latvian Olympic Committee site (this is the pointer to the English version, Latvian is also available):

    http://www.olympic.lv/EN/start_frame.htm

COMTEX Newswire Saturday, 2000. September 16. 14:37:00 PM

    RIGA, September 16 (Itar-Tass) — Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Louis Freeh, who arrived here on Saturday, assured Latvian Justice Minister Ingrida Labucka that the United States and the FBI could assist in training judges, prosecutors and policemen as well as personnel of the independent bureau for fighting corruption, which is being set up in Latvia. Fighting against corruption, organised crime and drud trafficking is the field of cooperation where the experience of the United States could be very useful, the sides noted.
     According to the Latvian minister, courts as well as the society have not realised all the degree of danger from drugs, and because of this, they impose light punishment.
    The FBI chief also discussed cooperation with Latvian police senior officials. During the visit, Freeh will also have meetings with the Latvian president and the prosecutor-general.
    On Sunday morning, the FBI chief will leave for Lithuania.

pan/(c) 2000 ITAR-TASS

Business Wire Monday, 2000. September 18. 5:04:00 PM

    STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sep 18, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Securities Market Commission in Latvia has approved SEB's Offer for all the shares in Unibanka not already owned by the SEB Group. Also the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has given SEB consent to acquire all the shares in Unibanka. The Offer document will be distributed in Latvia when the offer period begins today, Monday, 18 September. The offer period will run until 27 October.
    SEB already holds the necessary approval from the Bank of Latvia. The Offer is mandatory and therefore unconditional.
    Depending on the level of acceptances received under the offer, SEB will consider taking steps to submit an application for de-listing of the shares of Unibanka from the Riga Stock Exchange.
    SEB has also made a similar offer for the shares it does not own in Eesti Uhispank in Estonia and has announced its intention to make a similar offer to the shareholders in Vilniaus Bankas in Lithuania. SEB's intention is to create a banking group that is the clear market leader in the Baltic States.
    On 28 August, SEB announced its intention to make an offer for all the shares in Unibanka not already owned by the SEB Group, currently being 17,258,912 shares, representing 46,55 per cent of the total issued share capital of Unibanka. SEB is offering LVL 1.90 per share in Unibanka in cash. The price represents a premium of 44 per cent over the closing price on the Riga Stock Exchange on Friday, 25 August, the day before the intention to make the offer was announced.
    The Offer document will be distributed by the Riga Stock Exchange through banks and brokerage companies in Latvia.

---

This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download:
     http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/09/18/20000918BIT00460/bit0001.doc
     http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/09/18/20000918BIT00460/bit0002.pdf

CONTACT:
SEB
Lotta Treschow, Head of Investor Relations
+46 8 763 95 59
or
Mats Kjaer, President Baltic Holding
+46 40 6676101
or
Gunilla Ekerblom, Head of Communication,
SEB Baltic Holding
+46 8 639 26 07

URL: http://www.businesswire.com
Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page.
Copyright (C) 2000 Business Wire

Dow Jones Monday, . gada September 18.

    MALMOE, Sweden (AP) — Government leaders from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania claimed Monday the three former Soviet republics almost meet European Union entry requirements already, yet there's no clear sign when, if ever, they'll be invited in.
    "The question is: Is the E.U. ready?" asked Andris Berzins, Latvia's prime minister. His country seems to be viewed as "underdeveloped, post-Soviet citizens," and not ready for E.U. membership, he added.
    The 15-nation E.U. has said it wants to expand east. Among 12 candidate nations, Estonia is in the first group along with Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Cyprus. They began formal membership talks in 1998.
    Two years later, Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia said he is "a bit pessimistic" that will happen anytime soon. There seems to be a "growing fatigue in western Europe about the enlargement."
    At the Baltic Development Forum, a conference of 300 businessmen, lawmakers and scholars, Lithuania Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said, "It would be ideal if all E.U. members were as ambitious as the candidate members are to let in new members.... Wouldn't it be easier for the European Union to swallow all candidate members in one go?"
    Lithuania is in the second group of candidate nations including Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Malta that began entry negotiations last February.
    Since regaining independence in 1991, the three Baltic Sea nations have made E.U. membership a top priority. Estonia is aiming at a 2003 entry date. Latvia and Lithuania say they're setting 2005 or 2006 as their target. Officials expressed hope that their cases would be highlighted, and perhaps boosted, when Sweden takes over the rotating E.U. presidency next January.
    However, they also noted that if Denmark votes "no" in a Sept. 28 referendum on abolishing its national currency, the krone, and replacing it with the euro, that also would seem to strengthen those in E.U. nations and in candidate countries who oppose E.U. expansion.
    "It will lead to a dramatically increased E.U. skepticism" throughout the Baltic countries, Berzins said.

Copyright 2000 Dow Jones & Co., Inc.

Reuters World Report Monday, 2000. September 18. 12:57:00 PM
Copyright 2000 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, Sept 18 (Reuters) — Latvian bank Unibanka's second largest shareholder, High Bridge Services LLC (HBS), said on Monday it was considering extending its stake by 15 percent at "no less than" two lats ($3.2) per share.
    Dealers said the move might force Swedish SEB to raise its buyout price for Unibanka, although SEB said earlier on Monday that its buyout offer for Unibanka and two other Baltic units — Estonia's Uhispank and Lithuania's Vilniaus Bank — was non-negotiable.
    High Bridge Services (HBS) currently holds 9.9 percent of Unibanka, Latvia's second largest and only publicly traded bank.
    It will decide by October 18 whether to take that to 24.9 percent by buying 5,566,000 Unibanka shares.
    "In order to evaluate the feasibility of (our possible) purchase, HBS LLC is requesting Unibanka shareholders interested in selling their shares to submit their proposals to HBS LLC affiliate office in Riga," the company said in a statement.
    Unibanka's majority owner Swedish SEB is looking to take 100 percent of the Latvian bank and on Monday kicked off its 1.90 lats ($3.10) a share buyout offer to minority shareholders.
    It runs to October 27 and the Swedish bank is allowed to change the rules until 10 days before the buyout deadline.
     HBS said last week it sees SEB's offer as undervaluing Unibanka.
    "I think that as a result of this (HBS's) move it is very possible that they (SEB) will have to raise the price," Roberts Indelsons, Suprema Latvia managing director, told Reuters.
    "I don't think SEB will do anything until October 17," he added.
    SEB said the price of its buyout offer for its three Baltic units — Uhispank at 38 kroons ($2.10), Unibanka , and Lithuania's Vilniaus Bank at 40 litas ($10) — was non-negotiable.
     Dealers said the latest turn of events strengthened HBS's hand.
    "HBS now has a better chance than SEB to buy all they want, taking into account that they offer a higher price," said Latvijas Krajbaka broker Artis Goba.
    SEB late last month said it planned to take 100 percent of its majority owned Uhispank and Latvian Unibanka through a cash buyout. A similar offer to shareholders in Vilniaus Bank, in which SEB has just over 40 percent, is also planned.
    Unibanka closed at 1.88 lats on Monday.

Reuters World Report Monday, 2000. September18. 16:05:00 PM
Copyright 2000 Reuters Ltd.
By Evelyn Leopold

    UNITED NATIONS, Sept 18 (Reuters) — Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov again warned the United States on Monday that negotiations on new nuclear warhead cuts could not be conducted if Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty were changed.
    Washington has been trying, so far without success, to persuade Russia to accept amendments to the ABM treaty to accommodate the U.S. national missile defence system.
    President Bill Clinton has passed to his successor the decision on whether to start construction on a radar site in Alaska, the first stage in a missile defence system that has wide support in the United States.
    Addressing the 55th U.N. General Assembly session, Ivanov said he would introduce a resolution in support of the ABM treaty, which was bound to get support from a majority of the 189 U.N. members.
    "We are ready to actively continue the process of nuclear disarmament and to move toward the conclusion of a START III treaty with an even lower threshold of nuclear warheads — down to 1,500 units," Ivanov said.
    "But this will only be feasible if the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty remains intact," he said.
    Ivanov said the treaty affected "security interests of the international community as a whole" and its preservation was a key element of global stability.
    Both major president candidates, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, have indicated they would pursue development of the missile defence system and try to negotiate changes to the ABM treaty.
    Ivanov also chastised the Baltic states, without mentioning them by name, for allegedly abrogating human rights. Russia has had cool relations with them since they regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
    "We cannot accept the situation when people have no right to use their mother tongue, are deprived of citizenship and jobs on ethnic grounds, when fighters against fascism are put behind bars while former fascists find favour with the authorities," Ivanov said.
     He added that the United Nations and the Council of Europe "should robustly respond to all such manifestations." Moscow, in the past, has pointed to Latvia and Estonia, which have large Russian-speaking minorities it says suffer from widespread discrimination.
    Ivanov called on the United Nations to launch new efforts against terrorism, high on Moscow's agenda following a series of bombings last year that were blamed on Chechen separatists.
    "Such an abhorrent manifestation of extremism as international terrorism poses a direct threat to security and stability," he said.

Reuters World Report Tuesday, 2000. gada September 19. 9:58:00 PM
Copyright 2000 Reuters Ltd.
By Janet McEvoy

    BRUSSELS, Sept 19 (Reuters) — Three front-running candidates for European Union membership stood by their ambitious 2003 target dates for joining, saying on Tuesday they were not too worried that the EU was slowing down entry talks.
    After separate meetings with the 15-nation bloc's authorities in Brussels, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia, three of the six countries which entered talks in 1998, played down perceived delays.
    The EU has so far refused requests to set a target date for its first eastwards expansion, or for ending talks, although it has promised to be ready itself by January 1, 2003, to admit countries that have made the tough preparations.
    Most EU diplomats and officials have acknowledged privately, however, that the EU is unlikely to open its doors to new members until 2005 at the earliest, and candidates have expressed increased frustration at the slow pace of talks.
    "At this moment I see no reason why we should change our target date, that would only slow down the momentum," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan told reporters after meeting EU foreign ministers.
    "I do not share some of the voices that I'm hearing...that too great a slowdown is taking place."
    But he said EU leaders meeting in Nice, France, in December, should lay down as planned a blueprint showing what each candidate country still has to do.
    SUCCESS STORY
    Kavan's determination was matched by Hungary, which the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen described at a joint news conference as "a success story" in its EU negotiations.
    "We will have completed our preparations in Hungary by (the end of) 2002...we will be ready then, ready to join," Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said after a separate meeting with EU foreign ministers.
    "We trust that the EU will be in the same situation." He said Hungary was more optimistic about the talks than it was a few months ago.
    Slovenia's Prime Minister Andrej Bajuk, which also has a 2003 target date, said after meeting European Commission President Romano Prodi: "We are looking with a great optimism at the overall process. There are no major issues or problems." Hungary's Martonyi said in response to a question, however, he hoped his country would not be kept waiting if Poland, the biggest frontrunning candidate, experienced delays in its preparations on account of its size.
    He said he expected the EU to honour a commitment to take in candidates on their own merit as they are ready.
    "We are not committed to waiting for them, and they are not committed to wait for us," he said.
    Even though the EU has said it will assess each country individually, there is pressure to expand in groups of countries rather than one by one, and some EU countries insist that Poland be in the first group.
    Estonia and Cyprus are also in the front group. Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Malta, Romania and Bulgaria entered talks in February and some want to catch up and be among the first countries to join.

Dow Jones Sunday, 2000. September 24.11:16:00 PM

    SYDNEY (AP) — It finally was somebody else's day at the Sydney Olympics. Rain intruded Sunday after more than a week of glorious weather at the games, and with it came a stream of medals for countries other than the U.S., Australia or China.
    The Chinese and Americans still won gold, and the Aussies added to their overall count, but it was the Russians and the Romanians who scored big, and even a small country, Latvia, got onto the top step of the podium - for the first time in its history.
    Rain soaked competitors during an evening storm and another positive doping test popped up, but neither dampened the spirit of the less-frequent winners.
    Russia claimed four golds in three different sports, Romania took three. Five other countries won two each. And some of the medals came in nontraditional strengths for some countries.
    Naoko Takahashi won Japan's first non-judo title in Sydney, completing the women's marathon in record time, 2 hours, 23 minutes, 14 seconds.
    "With the games half over, we have achieved our basic goal. We wanted at least five golds, with one from a sport other than judo," Japan's delegation chief, Yushiro Yagi, said.
    Athletics also provided gold for Russia's Sergey Kliugin in the high jump, Poland's Szymon Ziolkowski in the hammer throw, Tereza Marinova in the women's triple jump and Britain's Denise Lewis in the heptathlon.
    Kliugin won with a leap of 7 feet, 8.5 inches, but it was Javier Sotomayor who gained the most attention. The Cuban, who only last month received a reduction of his two-year ban for testing positive for cocaine at last year's Pan American Games, claimed the silver with a jump of 7 feet, 7.25 inches.
    "The rain made it impossible for me," he said. "I'm the worst jumper in the world in the rain. I'm very happy with the silver. It could be another color if the weather held out. The weather made it very difficult."
    Besides Sotomayor's return to major competition, more doping news came to the forefront.
    Latvian rower Andris Reinholds, who finished ninth in men's single sculls, tested positive for the steroid nandrolone. The Latvian delegation claimed the positive test was the result of a Chinese herbal medicine made in the U.S.
    Regardless, the announcement tainted Latvia's moment, its first gold medal since it began competing in the Olympics in 1924. Latvia competed as an independent nation from 1924 to 1936 and returned in 1992 after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Igors Vihrovs finally earned the honor of hearing his nation's anthem played when he won the men's gymnastics floor exercise.
    Marius Urzica of Romania won the men's pommel horse and Szilveszter Csollany of Hungary took the rings in the other men's titles awarded Sunday. Svetlana Khorkina and Elena Zamolodtchikova earned two of Russia's golds, winning the women's uneven bars and vault.
    Khorkina pulled out of the vault with her knees still bothering her from a fall in the event during the all-around, an injury caused when officials set up the vault 2 inches too low.
    "It's a memory I wanted to keep far away from me," Khorkina said. "Like maybe in the North Pole."
    Russia's final gold came in men's team sabre in fencing, giving the country 12 and putting it in third place.
    It's a far cry from the days when the Soviet Union won every gold medal count at the Summer Games from 1972 to 1992, except the boycotted 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
    After nine days of medal competition, the U.S. still led the race with 21 gold and 52 overall. China was second with 18 gold and 44 overall.
    The Americans and Chinese still plodded along. China claimed its third gold in table tennis when Wang Nan beat compatriot Li Ju for the women's singles crown, but the U.S. stunned the Chinese when Laura Wilkinson upset Li Na in the women's 10-meter platform diving.
    The Chinese had won four straight women's platform titles, and seemed on their way to a fifth when Li and compatriot Sang Xue finished first and second in the preliminaries.
    Wilkinson was fifth after the prelims, but came through in the finals for 543.75 points, just 1.74 points ahead of Li. Sang finished fourth behind Anne Montminy of Canada.
    "It's very hard to handle. That China lost this gold is very sad," said Chinese coach Wang Min. "The Olympics can be bitter."
    "I still can't fathom it," said Zhang Ting, another coach. "We never imagined it."
    France also stayed in the running, earning its 12th gold when Miguel Martinez took the men's mountain biking title.
    Besides Urzica, Romania won two golds on the final day of rowing led by the defending champion women's eights, which gave Elisabeta Lipa, the most bemedaled rower in Olympic history, a fourth gold and seventh medal overall. Constanta Burcica led the lightweight double sculls to gold, giving Romania three titles in rowing.
    Britain won the men's eights and France, which hadn't won a rowing gold in 48 years until Saturday, claimed a second by capturing the men's lightweight coxless four.
    And if the U.S. upset the expected order of things by winning women's platform diving, Greece's Kakhi Kakiasvilis restored it in weightlifting by winning his third straight gold.
    Having competed in several different weight classes, thanks to the International Weightlifting Federation's ever-changing rules and divisions, Kakiasvilis needed only one attempt in the clean and jerk Sunday to win in the middle heavyweight class.
    Kakiasvilis will try for a record fourth gold, with the home-country advantage, in Athens in 2004.
    "I'm very happy with three, but my life is sports and I want to continue," Kakiasvilis said.

Copyright 2000 Dow Jones & Co., Inc.

COMTEX Newswire Sunday, 2000. September 24. 15:07:00 PM

    VILNIUS, September 24 (Itar-Tass) — A Russian culture and education center was opened in a Russian school of Vilnius on Sunday. The opening ceremony was attended by a delegation of the Moscow government led by city first vice-premier Vladimir Resin. The delegation came to Lithuania on Saturday on a two-day visit.
    The delegation has met Vilnius Mayor Rolandas Paksas, Economics Minister Valentinas Milaknis, Agriculture Minister Edvardas Makelis and President of the Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists Bronislavas Lubis to discuss the bilateral cooperation.
    Not long ago the sides signed a contract on the supply of Lithuanian meat, milk and grain to Moscow.
    The delegation also attends a festival with the theme "Vilnius Days'2000."

yer/dro (c) 2000 ITAR-TASS

Lyudmila Putin attends exhibition opening in Kalingrad

COMTEX Newswire Friday, 2000. September 15. 9:52:00 PM

    KALININGRAD, September 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian president's wife, Mrs.Lyudmila Putin, took part in the opening of the sixth international graphic exhibition of the Baltic Sea nations, titled Kaliningrad-Koenigsberg-2000, on Friday.
    "I am very glad that my native town is becoming one of the cultural capitals of the Baltic region", Lyudmila Putin said in her address to the exhibition's participants and guests.
    She said cultural events like the current display of graphic works is a form of people's diplomacy, which sometimes unites people more than treaties.
    The exhibition in Kaliningrad, Russia's westernmost town on the Baltic Sea coast, features 330 drawings of 90 graphic artists from nine countries, including Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
    Today, Lyudmila Putin was present at a Russian language class in Kaliningrad secondary school No.44. She is expected to depart to Moscow later on Friday.

fil/(c) 2000 ITAR-TASS

    Ah... we never tire of one of our perennial favorites... the Riga Dom Church square in Old Riga (Vecriga). The more eagle-eyed among you may notice a slight change as compared to how it actually looks.