OREANDA-NEWS. February 07, 2013. We kindly invite the media representatives to apply for participation in the Northern Future Forum to be held in Riga, on February 28. During the Forum, the officials of Nordic and Baltic countries and Great Britain will discuss competitiveness of the green economy and addressing the digital divide.

The Forum will be held in Riga at the initiative of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, which was supported by other countries in the 2012 Forum in Sweden.

The media representatives willing to apply for participation in the Northern Future Forum 2013 are required to fill out an application form, which is available on the website of the Forum: www.futureforum2013.gov.lv. The registration will last until February 11.
 
Experts representing governmental, private and non-governmental sectors, as well as researchers from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden will traditionally participate in the Northern Future Forum.

This year the countries have agreed to discuss the following topics: "Can Green Economy be Competitive?" and "Addressing the Digital Divide", recognizing that the implementation of green technologies and availability of information communication technologies are essential factors to ensure national sustainability and stable growth.

This will be the third forum of this kind. The first forum was held in January 2011 in London, while the second - in February 2012 in Stockholm. At the conclusion of this forum, the Heads of State supported the proposal made by Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis to organize the third forum in Riga.

Here's a video capturing the moment when the venue of the 2013 Forum was announced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA9HADU0LUM

In the panel discussions of the Northern Future Forum 2012, the Latvian side was represented by Juta Strike, Deputy Head for Corruption Combating Issues of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau and Gundars Strautmanis, President of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while Anatolijs Danilans, Head of the Centre of Gastroenterology at Pauls Stradin's Clinical University Hospital made a presentation on how to ensure that senior citizens are full-fledged members of the labour market. Lotte Tisenkopfa – Iltnere, Chair of the Board of "Madara Cosmetics" Ltd. delivered a speech about women's participation in entrepreneurship.

In the 2011 summit, Professor Roberts Kilis gave a presentation on self-organization of the society in times of crisis, the Chairman of the Board of company "Tilde" told about the project "Language Coast", Kerli Gabrilovica, Commercial Director of "Lattelecom" Ltd. informed about the project "The Father's Third Son" and Martins Ritins told about the farmer's entrepreneurship, while Karlis Dambergs, co-owner of "Kalnciema Quarter" gave a presentation on urban environment and cultural heritage.

More detailed information about the Northern Future Forum 2013:
www.futureforum2013.gov.lv.
 
About the Forum:
The first Northern Future Forum was organized at the initiative of D.Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was organized by the government of the United Kingdom. In the 2011 Forum, the countries presented more than 40 best practices and achievements in the area of green economy, sustainable business, technologies and innovations, as well as employment, family and gender equality.
 
The topics covered in the forum in the Stockholm – how to increase the proportion of women in managerial positions and entrepreneurship, as well as involvement of senior citizens in the labour market.

The Northern Future Forum in Riga is organized by the Prime Minister's Office in cooperation with the State Chancellery, the Cross-Sectoral Coordination Centre, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Latvian Information and Communications Technology Association and non-governmental organizations of the sector.