Latvia Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in latvia, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Market Overview
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Latvia is a member of the European Union, NATO, Eurozone, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Geographically, Latvia is a natural gateway between the United States and EU and Russia and Asia, with highly developed transport infrastructure. 

Latvia provides various tax, labor, and R&D incentives to foreign investors.

Latvia offers significant cost advantages to investors, including a highly skilled workforce at competitive labor costs, affordable real estate, and competitive tax rates.

Foreign and domestic investments in Latvia are treated equally under the law.

According to Eurostat, Latvia’s GDP increased by 2.8 percent in 2022, backed by strong private consumption and exports.  This was a more modest rate of increase than the 4.1 percent GDP increase in 2021.  The EU spring forecast, released on May 15, 2023, predicts a more modest GDP growth of 1.4 percent in 2023 due to continued inflation pressure. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division, in 2022 the main exports to Latvia from the United States were aircraft, electric machinery, petrol oil, vehicles, optical and medical instruments, and beverages and spirits.

Latvia’s main import partners in 2022 were Lithuania (24.3 percent of Latvia’s total imports), Estonia (10 percent), and Germany (9.6 percent ), while the United States was the 19th largest partner.

Political & Economic Environment

Visit State Department’s website for background on the country’s political environment

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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