In order to promote export-oriented investments and to provide an environment for the development of new products, technologies and services, the Saeima supported the urgent draft law on support for innovative business and priority projects on Thursday, 14 March, in the second – final – reading.

“The feeling of impunity leads to new crimes. Justice must be ensured and all perpetrators brought to justice. Justice can only be ensured by the victory of Ukraine," said Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on Thursday, 7 March, at the meeting of the Assembly’s Standing Committee, which takes place this time in the French Senate, Paris. The Committee’s debate was dedicated to two years since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. 

“It is essential for the international community to strongly insist on respect for international law in relations between states. Russia’s war in Ukraine affects the global economy and threatens the global democratic order,” emphasised Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Wednesday 6 March, meeting in the Latvian parliament with Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Zimbabwe. This is a regional visit of the Zimbabwean Speaker who is visiting also Lithuania, Finland, and Sweden.

On Tuesday, 6 March, in Paris, the capital of France, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and head of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), was elected Chair of the PACE Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee). Kalniņa-Lukaševica is the first representative from Latvia to become leader of the Committee.

The assassination of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny unfortunately did not come as a surprise— this is not the first political murder by the Kremlin. Today, there are more than 1000 political prisoners in Russia, and the situation in Belarus is even worse. The only possible way in which we, Europe and the civilised world, can help them and ensure that justice prevails is secure Ukraine’s victory against Russia’s aggression, emphasised Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), addressing a meeting of PACE’s Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy on Tuesday, 5 March, in Paris, France.

In an open letter, the Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa, along with the parliament speakers of several other European countries, urges the U.S. House of Representatives to expedite decisions regarding assistance to foreign countries and providing Ukraine with the necessary funds to continue its fight.

To strengthen the Parliament's ties with civil society and underscore its pivotal role in law-making, today, on 27 February—the World NGO Day—the Saeima, together with partners from the non-governmental sector, started a new tradition, introducing the Saeima committees Open Door Day.

“We believe that Ukraine will win, and the next time when we gather here, the mood will be different - we will commemorate the heroes and all those who fought selflessly for us all - for Latvia, for Ukraine,” said Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Saturday, 24 February, in her address at the event Together until Victory! at the Freedom Monument, honouring the victims of the war in Ukraine.

On Thursday, 22 February, the Saeima adopted amendments to the Law on Agriculture and Rural Development prohibiting the import of agricultural and animal feed products from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus for consumption in Latvia. 

“We stand by the people of Ukraine and we will continue to stand by them. Latvia will do everything in its power for a quicker victory for Ukraine!” Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa said on Thursday, 22 February, at the extraordinary sitting of the Saeima dedicated to commemorating two years since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.