Linking education with the labour market is an essential prerequisite for regional economic development and prosperity of our people; therefore, this issue should stay high on the agenda of the Baltic Sea region countries. This was stressed on Monday, 29 August, at the annual Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) by Jānis Vucāns, President of this parliamentary cooperation forum and President of the Baltic Assembly (BA). He also encouraged the Baltic Sea region countries to step up their cooperation even more.

The 25th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) will be held in Riga on 28–30 August 2016. The main focus of the discussion will be high quality education and labour as requirements for unlocking the future growth potential of the Baltic Sea region.

The new geopolitical conditions in Europe confirm that security threats are no longer a purely military phenomenon. We must join our efforts to seriously prevent hybrid threats, emphasised Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Monday, 22 August, at the annual conference of the speakers of parliament of the Baltic States and the Nordic countries (NB8), which this year takes place in the Latvian capital, Riga.

To show their solidarity, the speakers of parliament of the Baltic States and the Nordic countries (NB8) will pay a joint visit to Georgia upon the invitation of the country’s speaker of parliament. The agreement was reached by the speakers of the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden on Monday, 22 August, at the annual conference of the speakers of parliament of the NB8 countries that this year takes place in Riga.

We owe gratitude to no one else but ourselves for the restoration of Latvia’s independence: it was our fight and our victory. The 1991 August events for Latvians, Estonians, and Lithuanians were a fight for their freedom, democracy, and independent state, as well as for values, said Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Sunday, 21 August, at the ceremonial event at the Monument of Freedom, as she addressed the audience on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the de facto restoration of the statehood of Latvia.

This year the annual conference of the speakers of parliament of the NB8 countries will take place on 22 August in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The speakers of the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden will meet to discuss current issues pertaining to regional cooperation.

On 21 August this year, the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia will hold celebratory events to mark the 25th anniversary of the de facto restoration of the statehood of Latvia.

On Thursday, 16 June, the Saeima adopted the Law on the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of 14 December 1960 and on the Agreement on the Terms of Accession of the Republic of Latvia to the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, thus ratifying the agreement whereby Latvia joins the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).