On Monday, 13th of July 13 Edvīns Balševics, Head of the Interim Administration of Riga City Municipality, and Aleksejs Remesovs, Member of the Interim Administration of Riga City Municipality, received Frank Imhoff, President of the Bremen Parliament, and an accompanying delegation.
Frank Imhoff thanked for the warm welcome in Riga and the hospitality in organizing this visit. The parties approvingly declared on the ongoing long-term co-operation between Riga and Bremen in the economic, cultural and social fields, as well as outlined priority areas for further co-operation.
One of the areas in which Bremen would like to gain experience from Riga is information technology. The time of the Covid-19 pandemic showed that the institutions and companies, that had invested in information technology, suffered this time with less disadvantages. The parliament of Bremen managed to ensure capacity, while being aware that many services were also not possible to the population, such as remote registration of a car or concluding a house construction contract. Therefore, Bremen would like to get to know about Riga's experience in these and the success stories mentioned by E. Balševics about the operation of schools for providing distance learning in the e-environment.
In turn, one of the fields where Riga would like to gain Bremen's experience is the planning and maintenance of the city's historic centre. As Mr.Imhoff said, this issue is very relevant for Bremen too, as the entire historic centre of Bremen is being redesigned, deciding what to leave of historic buildings and what not, and how to attract people to the city centre. Bremen is also ready to share its experience of the new Bremen quarter, which has developed over the last 20 years, with particular reference to the mistakes they have made in the development process.
The delegation has arrived in Riga to celebrate 35 years friendship between Riga and Bremen. In addition to the official meetings, a visit to the innovation quarter VEFRESH, a visit to the House of the Blackheads and a visit to the Bikernieki Memorial will take place. On 14th of July, at 12:00 in the territory of the Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum, a gift from the people of Bremen to Riga will be unveiled - a memorial stone dedicated to the memory of the Jews killed in the territory of Latvia during the Second World War.
This year, the Riga-Bremen twinning celebrates 35 years, as the friendship agreement was signed in February 1985. Cooperation is governed by a renewed agreement signed on 22 April 1992.