Latvian Link
News
Picture Album
January 13, 2003

Sveiki, all!

First, a couple of corrections to last week's mailer... we misspelled "Turgeneva" iela (it's been that ever since 1885, so it's about time we spelt it correctly). Also, Putin's letter regarding Kononov being an anti-fascist hero was from February of 2000, not 2002 (typo).

On to the news this week:

This week's picture is of Melngaila iela in Riga.

This week's link is to the Brivdabas Muzejs.

As always, AOL'ers, 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 in their AOL browser: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

SilvijaPeters

 

  Latvian Link

One of the best kept secrets on the web -- well, at least from us -- is the virtual tour of the Brivdabas Muzejs (Open-Air Ethnographic Museum) in Riga. We don't wax poetic about web sites that often, but this one truly is world-class!

      http://www.virmus.com/

 

  News


Latvia's leaders, in bid to fight corruption, raise salaries
AP WorldStream Wednesday, January 08, 2003 9:59:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By J. MICHAEL LYONS
Associated Press Writer

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — In a bid to stave off the temptation of corruption, members of Latvia's governing cabinet have tripled their salaries.
      The new cabinet, which swept into power in November on a promise to stamp out corruption in the ex-Soviet republic, approved the raises late Tuesday, said Peteris Vinkilis, the spokesman for Prime Minister Einars Repse.
      Repse, the 41-year-old former head of the Central Bank, was named prime minister in late November after his New Era party won October's election amid promises to clean up the country's government.
      His salary will increase from 650 lats (US$1,083) per month to 2,200 lats (US$3,738). The salaries of the 16 cabinet ministers will rise from 600 lats (US$1,019) to 2,000 lats (US$3,398) a month. The average Latvian earns just 165 lats (US$280) a month.
      Vinkelis defended the raises, predicting it would pay off for Latvia's 2.4 million residents.
      "It costs the Latvian people much less to pay ministers more than to face the consequences of them not making enough money," he said of the raise, the first for ministers since 1997.
      Corruption allegations, most surrounding deals to privatize state industry, forced the collapse of several governments since Latvia's independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.
      Corruption was a key issue in the pro-Western country's negotiations with the European Union, which ended last month with formal invitations to join the 15-member bloc in 2004.
      The pay increase, which doesn't need the approval the country's Saeima legislature, drew indignant headlines splashed across the front pages of several newspapers.
      "Do we need an inoculation for corruption?" asked the front page headline in the daily Telegraf.
      Latvia tied with Morocco and Sri Lanka for the 54th place on the corruption watchdog Transparency International's 2002 Corruption Perceptions Index of 102 countries. It ranked last among countries vying for membership in the European Union.

Latvian December consumer prices rise 1.4% year-on-year
Reuters World Report Thursday, January 09, 2003 8:17:00 AM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      RIGA, Jan 9 (Reuters) — Latvian consumer prices rose 1.4 percent in December from the same period last year due to increases in car, fuel and food prices, the statistics office said on Thursday.
      The office said in a statement the consumer price index (CPI) rose a monthly 0.2 percent in December.
      The statistics office said the prices of foodstuffs were pushed higher during 2002 by increases in sugar prices and a poor potato harvest.
      Prices on food were up an annual 0.7 percent and a monthly 0.2 percent in December on vegetables, milk and dairy products. Transport rose 4.6 percent and education gained 5.4 percent, but the communications sector fell as competition between mobile operators led to lower tariffs and cheaper mobile phones.
      Average annual inflation for the full-year 2002 came to 1.9 percent down from 2.5 percent in 2001.
      The Latvian Central Bank expects a slightly higher annual average inflation figure this year of 2.4 percent due to planned rises in administratively regulated prices and excise taxes.
      The annual average prices on goods in 2002 rose 1.6 percent and services prices were up 0.7 percent.
      Latvia and its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania were among the 10 mostly east European countries recently invited to join the European Union in 2004.
      Latvia estimates economic growth of between 5.0-6.0 percent in 2002 and a similar expansion of activity in 2003.

Latvia's 2002 CPI lowest in 11 years
AP WorldStream Thursday, January 09, 2003 8:37:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's Consumer Price Index rose 1.4 percent last year compared to 2001, the lowest increase since the country broke from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Central Statistics Bureau reported Thursday.
      According to the figures released by the agency, the price of goods increased 1.6 percent and price of services climbed 0.7 percent.
      A 20-percent drop in mobile telecommunications costs, including mobile handset costs and call tariffs, were largely responsible for the overall decrease in consumer prices.
      Nearly 38 percent of Latvia's 2.4 million residents own mobile phones, according to industry estimates.
      Consumer prices increased 0.2 percent in December compared to the previous month.
      The Baltic Sea coast nation posted a 3.2 percent inflation rate in 2001.

Russian oil majors' growth tests Transneft boss
Reuters World Report Friday, January 10, 2003 8:45:00 AM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.
By Dmitry Zhdannikov

      MOSCOW, Jan 10 (Reuters) — The powerful head of Russia's state pipeline monopoly Transneft, Semyon Vainshtok, is under mounting pressure from private oil companies, who believe he is not expanding capacity fast enough to match surging production.
      Analysts said on Friday the position of Vainshtok, who turned Transneft into a power in the land from an obedient arm of private business after his appointment in 1999, was still safe due to Kremlin support and an impressive financial record.
      Transneft's ability to further expand its massive pipeline system in 2003, when Russia will need new export routes as never before to ship booming output, could be decisive for Vainshtok's future.
      "His position is still incredibly strong. He is one of the most effective managers in the Russian oil business. His key task now is to quickly match demand from the oil firms for new export routes," said Steven Dashevsky from Aton brokerage.
      "The demand for new routes is higher than ever. And if Transneft fails to build them quickly, forcing oil firms to curb output growth, Vainshtok could face problems," said Valery Nesterov from Troika Dialog.
      Vainshtok, 55, a former employee of Russia's largest oil firm LUKOIL, literally stormed the world's biggest pipeline firm in 1999, when after a battle between influential Kremlin groups he sent in police to throw out his predecessor.
      Despite having no experience in the pipeline business, Vainshtok managed in less than three years to build two new major pipelines and a port at Primorsk on the Gulf of Finland.
      These were the first oil infrastructure projects to be completed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
      Under Vainshtok, a previously timid Transneft started to flex its muscles. In 2001, the firm abruptly halted oil exports of LUKOIL, after receiving a complaint backed by a court ruling from a shareholder with a tiny stake in LUKOIL.
      But private majors were willing to accomodate Vainshtok's behaviour as long as the monopoly was building new routes.
      "Today, the situation is getting tougher for Vainshtok. Oil firms are starting to complain about Transneft's real tactical mistakes as the monopoly is not being flexible enough and is not expanding the system as quickly as they want," said Nesterov.
      SIGNS OF DISCONTENT
      The first serious sign of discontent surfaced in late 2002, when the four biggest private oil majors took an unprecedented decision to join forces to build a huge Arctic export port at Murmansk on the Barents Sea.
      They invited Transneft but Vainshtok said he was not convinced by the plan and preferred a Pacific route.
      This week five majors have asked the state to persuade Transneft to reopen a pipeline to the Latvian port of Ventspils and cut oil shipments from neighbouring Kazakhstan.
      The move follows a call from OPEC for Russia, the world's number two oil exporter, to increase supplies together with the cartel to take the heat out of prices driven higher by fears of war in Iraq and a long-running oil strike in Venezuela.
      "Oil firms do not want to tolerate losses anymore by seeing Transneft artificially cutting their exports," said Nesterov.
      Transneft has slashed oil shipments to Ventspils to zero this month from around 350,000 bpd at the beginning of 2002, saying oil firms preferred other routes to reach world markets.
      Market players say the move is instead designed to put pressure on the port's owners to sell Transneft a stake in the terminal, once the biggest outlet for Russia's crude on its way to northern Europe, at a bargain basement price.
      Ventspils is the only easy option for Russia to quickly boost exports -- currently running at four million bpd. Other pipelines are pumping at capacity and Russia faces bottlenecks in its main oil ports with total output at a 10-year high of 8.0 million bpd.
      "Oil firms are simply saying that in difficult years, such as 2003, Transneft should put their interests first," said Vladislav Metnyov from TIB Bank.
      However, he added that power of decision rested with the Kremlin, which has the last say on whether the monopoly takes more crude from Kazakhstan or cuts oil supplies to Latvia.
      Nesterov said if the government decided to give the go-ahead later this year for Transneft's plan to expand Primorsk and build a huge pipeline to the Pacific it would be the best proof yet it still has full confidence in Vainshtok.

US steel firms urge tariffs on developing nations
Reuters Financial Report Monday, January 13, 2003 6:27:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) — A group of U.S. steel companies have asked the Bush administration to stop shielding Mexico, India, Egypt and 28 other developing countries from hefty tariffs imposed last year, industry officials said on Monday.
      The companies made their request in a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Commerce Secretary Don Evans on Friday. They complained steel imports from the developing countries have surged after they were excluded from President George W. Bush's tariff order last year.
      Bush imposed the three-year tariff program to give the domestic industry time to restructure after a string of more than 30 bankruptcies since 1994. The duties ranged from eight to 30 percent in ten different steel products, but will be ratcheted down in year two and three of the program.
      Imports from Mexico were excluded from the duties because of its membership in the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada. The Bush administration also spared imports from another 30 developing countries.
      The steel companies say the exclusion for Mexico has led to a 12 percent increase in imports of flat-rolled steel from that country since Bush's tariff order went into effect in April.
      Imports from the 30 other countries surged to 1.6 million tonnes in the first 10 months of 2002, compared to 1.2 million in the same period in 2001, the companies said.
      Steel producers asking for the additional tariffs were Nucor Corp. , Gallatin Steel Co., IPSCO Steel Inc., Steel Dynamics Inc. , WCI Steel Inc., Weirton Steel Corp. and Rouge Steel Co.
      The 31 countries on their list are Mexico, India, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Venezuela, Romania, Thailand, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Poland, Argentina, Chile, Hungary, El Salvador, Morocco, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Honduras, Dominica, Antigua, Tunisia, Haiti, Philippines, Peru, Panama, Lithuania and Latvia.
      COMMERCE PUZZLED BY LONDON REPORT
      The companies' request comes as the Bush administration has been considering whether to loosen - rather than tighten - the current tariffs by exempting additional foreign steel products.
      Last year, the United States excluded 727 foreign steel products from the tariffs to make sure domestic steel-consuming companies had adequate supplies. The exclusions totaled about 3.2 million tonnes, or about 25 percent of the 13 million tonnes of imports that was affected by Bush's tariff order.
      In December, foreign steel producers and domestic steel-consuming companies requested more than 600 additional steel products also be excluded from the tariffs.
      The Bush administration plans to announce its decision on those requests in March.
      Bob Johns, an executive with Nucor, said U.S. steel companies were optimistic most of the pending requests will be turned down.
      Most of the requests are "simply repeats" of what the Bush administration denied last year, Johns said.
      Meanwhile, Commerce Department officials said they were puzzled by a report on Sunday in the Independent, a London-based newspaper, which said the United States was preparing to "significantly soften" the tariffs.
      "We can't figure it out," a Commerce Department spokeswoman said. "Nothing has changed with our steel policy."
      Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas has recently hinted that the United States could scale back its tariff program faster than scheduled if international negotiations aimed at eliminating government subsidies are successful.
      But most observers expect the United States to maintain the three-year tariff program unless the World Trade Organization rules that it violates trade rules. An initial decision in that case is expected sometime this spring. However, the ruling is likely to be appealed, whichever side wins.
 

  Picture Album

A scene along Melngaila iela in the summer of 2000. "Wooden" Riga has as much character as art nouveau Riga!

latvians.com qualifies as a protected collection under Latvian Copyright Law Ch. II § 5 ¶ 1.2.
© 2024, S.A. & P.J. Vecrumba | Contact [at] latvians.com Terms of Use Privacy Policy Facebook ToS Peters on Twitter Silvija on Twitter Peters on Mastodon Hosted by Dynamic Resources