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On Tuesday, July 19, during his working visit in the United States of America (USA), Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, met representatives of the University of Texas. During the meeting the Prime Minister of Latvia noted that the Latvian universities should take over the best practices from their American colleagues in transferring knowledge and technologies from universities to businesses by ensuring closer and more targeted cooperation between research institutions and entrepreneurs. American universities are more experienced and more successful in this area than higher education establishments in Europe. The University of Texas with its 51,000 students is one of the largest universities in the United States.
The meeting was also participated by Leonīds Ribickis, Rector of Rīga Technical University (RTU), who informed the University of Texas about activities of RTU and reached an agreement on closer cooperation of both universities, including academic staff and student exchange programmes.
The representatives of the University of Texas acknowledged that for both universities a common area of activities is research of alternative energies. The American colleagues are experienced researchers of shale gas; the universities could also cooperate in researching nuclear energy.
Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis also met Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, and discussed bilateral cooperation in the area of military and defence matters. The sides also discussed experience of the State of Texas in shale gas mining. Several mining spots are located on the territory of Texas, and Valdis Dombrovskis said that Latvia would be interested in engaging American experts in assessing the potential and economic feasibility of shale gas mining in Latvia.
When participating at a business seminar for Texas businesses, the Prime Minister of Latvia emphasised the advantages of investments into Latvia, for instance, a taxation system which is one of the most competitive systems in the European Union (EU), and a favourable geographical location implying a great potential for exports to the EU and the CIS countries.
The business seminar was participated by representatives of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency and the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia; they encouraged American companies to consider opportunities for starting or expanding cooperation with Latvian companies. Several Latvian companies, for instance, IT company Tilde, presented their cooperation proposals.
As reported, on July 13-22 Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis is paying a working visit to the United States of America in order to encourage political dialogue and develop cooperation of Latvian and American companies. The Latvian Prime Minister is accompanied by a delegation of 28 Latvian entrepreneurs and representatives of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia and the Latvian-American Business Association in the Silicon Valley.
ZANDA ŠADRE
Press Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers
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