Latvian Link
News
Picture Album

Sveiki, all!

As with everyone else, things are slowly resuming some sense of normalcy, although as some have observed, everything has changed. We are glad to bring you a full mailer this week. In the news:

This week's link is to coats of arms of cities, regions, and states.

This week's picture is from Peters' trip in October 1994 back to his roots -- a picture of the windmill in Lizums, Vidzeme.

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: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

Silvija Peters

  Latvian Link

This week's link is to a labor of love, a site dedicated to civic heraldry, that is, Coats of arms of cities, regions, and countries. The collection includes more than 70 coats of arms related to Latvia

    Civic Heraldry Site

    http://www.ngw.nl/indexgb.htm

  News


Forum Aims To Bolster Regional Cooperation
AP WorldSources Online Friday, September 21, 2001 4:40:00 PM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press, copyright 2001 THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

    ST. PETERSBURG TIMES -- The Third Annual Baltic Development Forum Summit, billed by its organizers as a "conference on partnership and growth in the Baltic Sea region," will take place at the Tavrichesky Palace from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25. According to information released by the forum's press center, discussions will focus on questions of developing business relations and deepening economic cooperation among Russia and the Baltic and Scandinavian states. The forum will look at options for integrated economic development across the region, with a strong focus on energy and environmental issues.
    President Vladimir Putin is expected to open the conference on Sunday, followed by an address by Governor Vladimir Yakovlev.
    Other Russian participants in the conference include Leningrad Ob last Governor Valery Serdyukov, Kaliningrad Governor Vladimir Yegorov, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, and President Putin's special economics advisor Andrei Illarionov.
    Foreign guests will include the prime ministers of Finland, Latvia, Lithua nia, Estonia and Denmark, as well as the foreign ministers of Lithuania and Estonia. In addition, special attention will be given to direct relations between cities in the Baltic region. On Monday, a plenary session will be held entitled, "Visions for Economic Association Among the Cities of the Baltic Sea Region: A New Hanseatic League?" This session will be attended by St. Petersburg Vice Governor Gennady Tkachev, as well as Yegorov, the mayors of Stockholm, Ta linn and Copenhagen and representatives from Riga and Helsinki.
    The forum will discuss and refine the Northern Dimension Action Plan, an economic-development roadmap that was created by the European Union for the region. According to forum chairperson Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, this plan made considerable progress during Sweden's EU presidency, opening up new opportunities for further development.
    The plan lays out steps for the integration of the regional energy market, the improvement of the overall regional investment climate and the improvement of the energy infrastructure, especially oil and gas pipeline networks.
    The forum will also devote attention to Russia's integration into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    "I cannot know for sure what the forum will cover or whether any concrete decisions will be made on Russian admission to the WTO,"
    Anne Dorte Riggelsen, managing director of the forum said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "But as WTO plays a prominent role in the Russian economy today, we'll focus on that question."

    BALTIC DEVELOPMENT FORUM
    Sunday, Sept. 23: 5:00 p.m.: Opening address by President Vladimir Putin, Welcome by Governor Vladimir Yakovlev
    Monday, Sept. 24: 8:30 a.m.: Address by Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen: "The Nothern Dimension Action Plan: Paving the Way to Coherence?"
    10:15 a.m.: Plenary session: "Europe Transformed: The Best-Case Scenarios for Europe and the Baltic Sea Region in 2015." Participants: Andris Berzins, prime minister of Latvia; Mart Laar, prime minister of Estonia; Paavo Lipponen, prime minister of Finland; Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, prime minister of Denmark; German Gref, Russian minister for economic development and trade; and others.
    1:30 p.m.: Address by Leif Pagrotsky, Swedish minister for trade and Nordic cooperation. "Introduction to the Summit's Business Theme."
    1:45 p.m.: Plenary session: "Visions for Economic Association Among the Cities of the Baltic Sea Region." Participants: Carl Cederschlold, mayor of Stockholm; Vladimir Yegorov, governor of Kaliningrad; Martin Meinander, deputy mayor of Helsinki; Tonis Palts, mayor of Tallinn; Soren Pind, mayor of Copenhagen; and others.
    3:45 p.m.: Plenary session: "Russia's New Economy." Participants: German Gref, Russian minister for economic development and trade; Andrei Illarionov, special adviser to President Vladimir Putin; Pavel Teplukhin, president of Troika Asset Management; and others.
    5:45 p.m.: Plenary session: "Branding the Baltic Sea Region." Participants: Toomas Hendrik Iives, Estonian minister for foreign affairs; Olav Akselsen, Norwegian minister for oil and energy; and others.
    7:00 p.m.: Endnote address: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Gusarov.
    "Mapping Out a New Revisited Partnership Between Russian and the European Union."
    Tuesday, Sept. 25: 8:05 a.m.: Keynote address: Harvard Professor Michael Porter. "Enhancing Baltic Competitveness: A Baltic Rim Regional Agenda."
    9:15 a.m.: Keynote addresses by Leningrad Oblast Governor Valery Ser dyu kov; Jacob Wallenburg, chairperson of the board of SEB; and Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas.
    10:45 a.m.: Thematic session: "Energy and Environment: A Case Study in Partnership." Participants: Danish Minister for Energy and Environment Svend Auken; Henrik Ager-Hanssen, president and CEO of Ager Energy Management AS; Eike Ben ke, board member of Ruhr gas Energie Beteiligung AG; and others.
    1:00 p.m.: Plenary session: "How to Secure Investments in Energy and Environment?" Participants: Peter Egardt, president of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce; Joachim Jahnke, vice president of EBRD; Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom; and others.
    2:15 p.m.: Endnote address: Northwest Region Governor General Viktor Cherkesov. "Creating a Win-Win Situation in the Baltic Sea Region."

Latvia against continuing OSCE presence there
COMTEX Newswire Friday, September 21, 2001 7:44:00 AM\
Copyright 2001 Itar-Tass
By Galina Kuchina

    RIGA, Sep 21, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Latvia comes out for termination of the OSCE presence in the country by the end of the year. Chairman of a juridical commission of the Latvian Seim Lunard Mucins said on Friday that "the presence of the OSCE mission in Latvia was a sign showing that the human rights situation in the country was not quite normal, although it is not true."
    Prospects for termination of the mandate of the OSCE mission have been discussed by OSCE high commissioner for affairs of ethnic minorities Rolf Ekeus, who is completing his two-day visit to Latvia on Friday. Earlier, the problem had been raised at a meeting between the European commissioner with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberg.
    Representatives of the left-wing bloc in the Latvian Seima have declared that the ratification of the convention was delayed because the convention contradicted a number of local laws. If the convention is ratified Latvia will have to broaden the rights of citizens of non-Latvian descent, left-wing MPs said.

World Bank sees strong Baltic potential
Reuters World Report Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:51:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, Sept 19 (Reuters) -- A World Bank reprentative said on Wednesday Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had strong potential for economic growth in the coming years.
    "In fact of all regions in the world this must be the region with the highest potential growth and economic transformation in the coming decade," Michael Carter, World Bank country director for the Baltic states and Poland, told a banking conference.
    He said future growth in the Baltics would depend increasingly on internal factors such as reforms.
    Carter added that it was difficult to predict what effect the U.S. economic slowdown would have on the region because it was not clear how big the slump would be.
    "Clearly the chances of what was hoped to be a slowdown in the U.S. economy now becoming a recession are substantially larger than a week ago," Carter said.
    "I think the depth and the duration of the recession is something that is not yet possible to comment on. It all depends on how events unfold in the coming weeks and months."

New Book Reveals UK's Mr Average And More
Business Wire Tuesday, September 18, 2001 10:35:00 AM
Copyright (C) 2001 Business Wire
[Excerpts]

    STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sep 18, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- From the world's top ten cosmetic surgery procedures to the largest letter writing nations, The Top Ten of Everything 2002, published by Dorling Kindersley, contains over 1,000 fascinating lists creating a unique snapshot of life at the beginning of the 21st Century. Compiled by famed list-master, Russell Ash, it reveals the latest statistics, and often surprising world trends, of the past 12 months. [...]
    Looking for your ideal woman?
    Then head for the former Eastern bloc -- for the second year running, Latvia is the country where women most outumber men (120 to 100), closely followed by Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania. But take care - Latvia has been revealed as the most accident-prone country, while Lithuania, Russia and Belarus have been revealed as the most suicidal nations. Alternatively, if you're on thehunt for the man of your dreams, you could start looking in Qatar, which has more men to women - nearly double - than any other country. [...]

Moscow condemns prosecution of veterans on "ideological and political reasons"
COMTEX Newswire Friday, September 14, 2001 9:50:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Itar-Tass
By Natalia Lenskaya

    MOSCOW, Sep 14, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry thinks it inadmissible to prosecute war and army veterans on ideological and political reasons.
    The thing is that the Latvian Prosecutor General's Office has handed over to the Riga court the case of Nikolai Tess, a Russian national, war veteran and invalid, on the charge of "genocide of the Latvian people."
    The foreign ministry has repeatedly voiced its opinion about the trials of war and army veterans in Latvia, which take place in the atmosphere of nationalism encouraged by the authorities. "Another attempt is being made to revise history, knock into people's heads the theory of Latvia's 'occupation' by the Soviet Union, and on that ground prosecute a person, who acted in compliance with the law of his time," the ministry reports.

  Picture Album

This is as far back as Peters has followed his roots... his grandfather's (mother's side, Kulle) first windmill -- still standing as a museum in Lizums, Vidzeme.

Lizums' windmill
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