拉脱维亚已经成为中国在波罗的海地区值得信赖的合作伙伴，未来中拉关系发展前景无限。在拉脱维亚和中国共同努力下，两国合作必将发挥其最大潜力
文｜马里斯·赛尔嘉（H. E. Mr. Māris Selga）拉脱维亚共和国驻华大使
●进口与出口
●基础设施
●交通和物流
●港口
●航空公司
●公路和铁路
●劳动力
●研究与开发
●旅游、教育和文化
拉脱维亚共和国是一个议会制共和国，位于经济和文化活跃的北欧和波罗的海地区中心。它西邻波罗的海，是连接北欧和东欧的十字路口。拉脱维亚北与爱沙尼亚接壤，东与俄罗斯和白俄罗斯相邻，南面是立陶宛，西面与瑞典隔海相对。
得益于拉脱维亚在欧盟、经济合作与发展组织、北约和联合国的成员国身份，拉脱维亚企业能够成功瞄准欧盟的发达经济体和东部邻国的新兴市场。拉脱维亚位处于申根区，并使用欧元作为统一货币。今年拉脱维亚将庆祝其建国一百周年。我们将利用这个机会向中国人民介绍我们的历史和文化，同时我们也将继续在其他包括投资在内的领域开展合作。
自1991年拉脱维亚共和国恢复独立以来，中拉关系发展迅速，硕果累累。拉脱维亚共和国成为了第一个签署《关于共同推进丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路建设的谅解备忘录》的波罗的海国家。这一重大协议为进一步深化两国合作提供了平台，实现了互利共赢。
“一带一路”倡议巩固了两国在交通运输、商贸往来和各类中欧合作项目上已建立的良好关系。在两国的共同努力下，这些领域正在稳步发展。同时，作为欧盟经济增长最快的经济体之一，拉脱维亚的经济地位为进一步深化两国关系、开辟新发展方向提供了新机遇。
进口与出口
拉脱维亚和中国之间的双边进出口贸易以每年两位数的速度增长，使中国成为其在亚洲最重要的贸易伙伴。对于来自中国的投资者来说，拉脱维亚提供了量身定制的激励措施、经商便利、低税率和合格的人才储备。这些优势的结合特别适合于欧洲市场的新进入者。
相反，许多拉脱维亚产品在中国已经拥有稳定的市场份额。例如，高质量的奶制品和鱼类产品得到了许多中国消费者的青睐。拉脱维亚以其悠久的传统和现代食品加工技术而自豪，致力于在中国市场推广拉脱维亚食品。仅今年，拉脱维亚“食品联盟”公司就在中国设立了两家工厂，提供用进口拉脱维亚原料生产的新鲜乳制品。拉脱维亚公司还参加了在上海举办的“首届中国国际进口博览会”和宁波的“中国-中东欧国家投资贸易博览会”等多个大型展会，拉脱维亚的专业技术使其获得“荣誉主宾国”的称号。这些仅是拉脱维亚为提高拉脱维亚产品在中国的知名度而采取的一部分措施。
基础设施
拉脱维亚出口的支柱是以投资者为重点的强大和发达的基础设施。拉脱维亚有四个自由港和经济特区提供有利的税收条件。10多个商业园坐落于拉脱维亚的主要城市，提供了大量的选择（设施、服务、供应商等）以及满足个体公司需要的所有必要的公用设施。地区企业孵化器通过以折扣价提供设备和服务的方式来减轻中小企业早期发展的负担。
交通和物流
拉脱维亚是欧亚主要市场之间贸易往来的十字路口。拉脱维亚是从亚洲到欧洲运输货物最方便、最实用的枢纽之一，反之亦然。拉脱维亚在处理国际贸易流通方面有100多年的经验，创造了高效、安全、多模式、平衡、环保和竞争的运输系统。拉脱维亚提供综合运输和物流解决方案，拥有三个主要的不冻港（里加港、文茨皮尔斯港和利耶帕亚港）、区域铁路运输领头羊（JSC“拉脱维亚铁路”）以及航空港（里加国际机场和国家航空公司“波罗的海航空”）。拉脱维亚未来运输发展的重点确定在四个优先领域：铁路、海港、航空和工业园区，进一步表明了面向投资和政策精简的发展方向。
拉脱维亚积极与中国一起参与并为欧亚运输通道的发展作出贡献。拉脱维亚交通部与中国交通部签订了《“一带一路”倡议下交通物流领域合作谅解备忘录》，与国家发展和改革委员会签订了《关于开展港口和临港产业园区合作的谅解备忘录》。拉脱维亚还组织并主持了第一次交通部长会议，并在里加设立了16+1物流秘书处。拉脱维亚和中国已经取得了许多实质性的成果，如测试集装箱封锁、包机和货运、关于建立大陆桥的谈判以及连接两国港口的交通线。
港口
作为拉脱维亚本身和若干邻国的重要出口和过境转运点，三个最大的拉脱维亚不冻港一年365天提供可靠的通道。与所有其他交通基础设施的连接，加上具有吸引力的免税区激励措施，使港口成为工业活动的区域中心。现在仍有许多在免关税区内的、有直接的海上通道的港口可供企业使用，
所有的港口都配备所需的基础设施——散装液体箱、码头、仓库和起重机，通信基础设施——运营服务供应商——装卸工、代理、报关员和银行——以及一些国际公认的公司，如德迅和马士基，包含透明的服务报价。
航空公司
里加国际机场是波罗的海地区最大的机场。在2017年间，它为超过609.7万旅客提供服务，打破了以往全年旅客人数记录（同比增长12.9%）。机场的货运量增长了近三分之一，占波罗的海航空货运市场的51%。
里加国际机场为波罗的海各国首都几乎一半（44%）的旅客提供服务。相比之下，2016年塔林（爱沙尼亚）为18%的乘客提供服务，维尔纽斯（立陶宛）为31%的乘客提供服务。该机场目前为超过17家航空公司提供服务，其中包括拉脱维亚的波罗的海航空公司，欧洲航空公司领导者如德国汉莎航空公司、俄罗斯航空公司、土耳其航空公司、北欧航空公司和芬兰航空公司，以及价格低廉的瑞安航空公司、威兹航空公司和挪威航空公司。上述公司和一些其他公司提供了从里加国际机场到80多个目的地快速可靠的直航。2016年，机场完成了航站楼北码头的建设，这将使机场能在保持目前增长的基础上继续增加客运量。
随着货运量增长29.2%，该机场还在2017年成功扩大了其航空货运市场。这是由土耳其航空货运在波罗的海地区推出的第一条定期货运航线以及SJSC“拉脱维亚邮政”与电子商务巨头阿里巴巴的成功合作项目促使的，使得从中国运来的邮件货物在里加机场得到处理。
公路和铁路
拉脱维亚是仅有的三个与俄罗斯直接接壤的欧盟国家之一，使其成为东/西方贸易往来的理想之地。俄罗斯高速公路M9——一条发达的公路货运路线，也被称为波罗的海高速公路——直接连接莫斯科和里加，该条公路也同贯穿赫尔辛基和布拉格的瓦芭提卡高速公路相连接。
拉脱维亚的铁路系统非常可靠，甚至被北约用来从拉脱维亚港口直接运送非军用物资到阿富汗。横贯西伯利亚的铁路把里加和莫斯科直接相连，有定期的集装箱班列。拉脱维亚和俄罗斯拥有共同的铁路轨距和基础设施，能持续促进贸易的增长。与此同时，旨在整合欧洲铁路网络中的波罗的海国家的横跨欧洲的铁路运输项目正在酝酿之中。
与日本和东南亚相连将有更多的贸易机会。目前，拉脱维亚铁路主要是作为运输干线，其中承担了包括从俄罗斯到拉脱维亚港口的79%货物运输，以及大约35%的由铁路油罐货车组成的货运列车。反方向行驶至莫斯科或俄罗斯/独联体的其他地区的主要是集装箱货物。
基于在过去的合作项目中取得了一系列成功，拉脱维亚对今后在运输和物流领域与中国开展更多合作的潜力充满信心。
劳动力
拉脱维亚的劳动力会说多种语言，受过良好的教育，随时准备接受新的挑战，并具有很高的积极性。拉脱维亚是世界上大学出勤率最高的国家之一。2015年至2016年，有84282名学生在59所高等教育学院和54个职业教育机构学习，其中3个是外国大学的分支机构。有超过1.4万名学生在高等教育项目中学习工程、电子、金属制造等，同时也在职业教育项目中学习。与拉脱维亚相比，拥有受过更好培训或更具积极性的劳动力的国家少之又少。同时，拉脱维亚的历史为其劳动力提供了商业和文化规范知识，使其能够与俄罗斯和其他独联体伙伴以及西欧国家建立伙伴关系。80%多的拉脱维亚人说俄语，40岁以下70%的人说英语，也有很多人说德语和斯堪的纳维亚语。拉脱维亚的劳动力占大学生数量比例在世界上排名前五。作为北欧文化不可分割的一部分，拉脱维亚人以拥有很强的职业道德而自豪，同时拥有与俄罗斯做生意的丰富经验和知识。
研究与开发
拉脱维亚也是其社会和市场数字化的领导者。尤其是在量子计算和机器人技术领域，它有活跃的STEM学术环境。我们的大学在全球机器人竞赛中获得了多项大奖，并在工业、卫生、国内产品、国防和其他技术领域进行了开拓性的研究。例如，里加技术大学为无人机等小型移动设备开发了一种独特的光流测距法和算法。
拉脱维亚企业也积极开展应用研究。由Squalio云咨询开发的深度学习人工智能已经在全国范围内展开（例如全国范围的超速执法）。JSC拉脱维亚国家森林（LVM）是一个森林管理公司，管理着114万公顷的林地。为了有效可持续地管理森林，他们使用最好的内部开发的地理空间信息技术，为用户提供多种查看、处理和分析数据的方法。
拉脱维亚还积极发展国际网络，在精准医疗领域建立合作项目。作为一个小而灵活的国家，我们可以提供的基础设施和灵活性吸引了世界范围内的行业巨头。例如，拉脱维亚大学与制药和信息技术领航者——罗氏公司和微软合作进行的复合型项目，目标是开发一个开放的数据驱动的设备——数据湖，该设备将存储不同的基因和健康相关的数据集，使它们可用于广泛的研究问题。例如2017年位于深圳的基因测序公司北京基因组研究所（华大基因）在拉脱维亚进行了投资项目，并与拉脱维亚大学合作开设了一个研发实验室。
旅游、教育和文化
中拉两国在旅游、教育和文化领域的合作也在加强。在过去的两年中，两国签署了几项重要的协议和备忘录，为今后的交流创造了法律框架。其中包括《科学技术领域合作协议》、《文化合作协议》、《智库合作备忘录》和《关于促进旅游合作的备忘录》。
还有欧盟——中国旅游年期间的活动，将为中国人民了解我国提供更多的机会。我们不断努力，通过提供现代化和便利的签证申请流程和前往拉脱维亚旅行的方式促进两国人民的互动。智库合作、文化交流、教育交流日益增多。不仅学习汉语和文化的热潮在拉脱维亚兴起，拉脱维亚语也在中国的三所大学教授。“一带一路”学术交流中心在华北科技学院设立。我们计划在里加设立一个地区性的中国文化中心，以进一步促进我们两国之间的了解和交流。在中国2022年奥运会前夕，我们也在探讨冬季运动合作的可能性。
拉脱维亚已经成为中国在波罗的海地区值得信赖的合作伙伴，未来中拉关系发展前景无限。在拉脱维亚和中国共同努力下，两国合作必将发挥其最大潜力。（编辑：裴安迪）
英文版：
Latvia – a Growing Northern European Hub
By H. E. Mr. Māris Selga, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to China
The Republic of Latvia is a parliamentary republic situated at the very heart of the economically and culturally vibrant Nordic-Baltic region. It is found on the east coast of the Baltic Sea at the crossroads of northern and eastern Europe. Latvia is bordered by Estonia to the north, Russia and Belarus to the east, Lithuania to the south and has a maritime border with Sweden to the west.
Businesses based in Latvia can successfully target both the developed economies of the EU and emerging markets of eastern neighbours, as the nation enjoys membership in the EU, OECD, NATO and UN. It uses the Euro currency, and is in the Schengen area. This year Latvia will celebrate its centennial anniversary of statehood. We will use this opportunity to inform the Chinese people on our history and culture, as we continue to build our cooperation in other spheres, including investment.
Since regaining its independence in 1991, the Republic of Latvia has enjoyed a fast growing and fruitful relationship with the People’s Republic of China, becoming the first Baltic country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments on Cooperation within the Framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative. The momentous agreement has provided a platform to further deepen the cooperation of the two nations, to great mutual benefit.
The Belt and Road Initiative underpins an already strong relationship between the two states in transport and logistics, trade initiatives, and various European Union – China projects. On the basis of concerted efforts from both nations, these areas are steadily growing. Together with Latvia’s position as one of the fastest growing economies of the European Union, there are still opportunities to open channels for further partnership.
Import and Export
Bilateral Import and export trade between Latvia and China has been increasing by double digits annually, establishing China as the most significant trading partner in Asia. For investors from China, Latvia offers tailored incentives, ease of doing business, low total taxes rate and a qualified talent pool. The combination of advantages is particularly well suited to new entrants into the European market.
Conversely, many Latvian products already have stable market shares in China. Consumers enjoy, for example, a high variety of quality dairy and fish products. Latvia is proud of its long-standing traditions and modern food processing technologies, dedicated to promoting Latvian foodstuffs in the Chinese market. This year alone, the Latvian company “Food Union” has established two factories in China, to offer fresh dairy products produced from imported Latvian ingredients. Latvian firms are also participating in several high profile exhibitions, including the “1st China International Import Expo” in Shanghai and "China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo" in Ningbo, where Latvia’s expertise has granted it the title of guest country of honor. These are only a few of the initiatives Latvia has undertaken to increase the visibility of Latvian products in China.
Infrastructure
Latvian exports are underpinned by a strong and developed infrastructure focused on investors. There are Four Free Ports and Special Economic Zones which offer favorable tax conditions. Over 10 business parks are located in major cities across Latvia providing a host of options (facilities, services, suppliers, etc.) and all necessary utilities suited to individual company needs. Regional business incubators ease the early stages of small and medium businesses to by providing granting provisions and services at discounted cost.
Transit and Logistics
Latvia is at the crossroads of trade flows between the main Eurasian markets, Latvia is one of the most convenient and practical hubs for transporting goods from Asia to Europe and vice versa. Latvia has more than a century of experience in handling international trade flows. It has created effective, secure, multi-modal, balanced, environmentally-friendly and competitive transport system. With three major ice-free ports (Rīga, Ventspils and Liepāja) and regional industry leaders in railway (JSC “Latvian Railways”) and aviation (International Airport “Riga” and national airline airBaltic) Latvia offers integrated transit and logistics solutions. Four priority areas for further development have been set in focus: railways; maritime ports; aviation and industrial parks, thus indicating a direction of further investments and policy streamlining.
Latvia actively engages with China to participate and contribute to the development of Eurasian transport corridors. The Latvian Ministry of Transport has concluded a Memorandum on Cooperation on Transport and Logistics in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Ministry of Transport of China and Memorandum on Port and Harbor Industrial Park cooperation with the National Development and Reform Commission. Latvia also organized and hosted the 1st Transport ministers meeting and established 16+1 Logistics Secretariat in Riga. Latvia and China has already reached many tangible outcomes, such as test container block-trains, chartered and cargo flights, negotiations on creating a land bridge, and connections linking ports of both countries.
Ports
As vitally important export and transit-transshipment points for Latvia itself and for several neighbouring countries, the three largest Latvian ice-free ports provide reliable access 365 days a year. Connections to all other transport infrastructure elements, along with attractive tax-free zone incentives, have resulted in the ports becoming regional centres of industrial activity. Nevertheless, there are still a number of port locations available for businesses, within customs-free zones and with direct sea access.
All of the ports are equipped with the required infrastructure – tanks for bulk liquids, terminals, warehouses and cranes, communications infrastructure – and have operating service-providers – stevedores, agents, customs brokers, and banks – with a number of internationally recognized names like Kuehne & Nagel and Maersk Line, comprising a visible part of the service offer.
Airways
The Riga International Airport is the largest airport in the Baltics and in 2017 it served over 6.097 million passengers breaking the annual passenger record (+12.9% y-o-y growth). Airport's cargo volumes have grown by almost a third, accounting for 51% of the Baltic air cargo market.
The Riga International Airport serves almost half (44%) of all Baltic capital passengers. In comparison, in 2016 Tallinn (Estonia) served 18% of total passengers and Vilnius (Lithuania) served 31%. The airport currently serves more than 17 airlines, including Latvia’s national airline airBaltic, European leaders like Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Turkish Airlines, SAS and Finnair, and low-fare carriers Ryanair, Wizzair and Norwegian. The said companies and others ensure fast and reliable direct travel from Riga International Airport to more than 80 destinations. In 2016, the airport completed construction of a North Pier for the terminal which will enable the airport to continue its current growth and increase passenger-handling capacity.
With cargo volumes going up by 29.2%, the Airport also managed to expand its air cargo market in 2017. It was facilitated by both the first scheduled cargo route in the Baltics launched by Turkish Cargo, as well as by the successful cooperation project of SJSC “Latvijas Pasts” and the e-commerce giant Alibaba, which resulted in mail cargo from China being handled at the Airport.
Roads and Railways
To the east, Latvia is one of only three EU countries that have a direct-access border with Russia, making it ideal for east/west trade. The Russian highway M9—the developed road-freight route known as the Baltic Highway—connects Moscow directly with Riga, where it also joins with the Via Baltica highway running north and south between Helsinki and Prague.
Latvia’s railway system is highly reliable, and is even used by NATO to deliver non-military supplies directly from ships from Latvian ports through to Afghanistan. The Trans-Siberian railway connects Riga directly with Moscow, with regularly-scheduled, container-block trains. Latvia and Russia share a common railway gauge and an infrastructure base that continues to facilitate growth in the flow of trade. In the meantime the Trans-European rail transport project Rail Baltica aiming to integrate the Baltic States in the European rail network is in the pipeline.
There are additional opportunities for trade connection with Japan and Southeast Asia. Currently, Latvian railways mostly serve as a transit trunk-line, with as much as 79% of total freight volume comprising transit from Russia to Latvian ports and approximately 35% of freight rolling-stock consisting of tanker-wagons. Movement in the opposite direction, to Moscow and other parts of Russia/CIS, is dominated by container cargo.
With a gamut of successes from previous cooperative projects, Latvia is confident in the potential for more cooperation with China in transport and logistics sector in the future.
Labor Force
The Latvian labour force is multi-lingual and very well educated, ready to take on new challenges and is highly motivated. It has one of the highest rates of university attendance in the world. In 2015/2016 there were 84 282 students attaining 59 higher education and 54 professional education institutions, 3 of which are branches of foreign universities. There are more than 14 thousand students studying in higher education programs for engineering, electronics, metalworking, etc. and also in vocational education programs. Countries with better-trained or better-motivated workforces than Latvia are few and far between. Concurrently, Latvia’s history has prepared its workforce with knowledge of business and cultural norms that enable partnership particularly with Russia and other CIS partners, as well as with western European countries. Over 80% of Latvians speak Russian and 70% of people under age 40 speak English. German and Scandinavian languages are also widely spoken. Latvia’s workforce is ranked in the top five in the world in terms of university students per capita. Latvians take pride in having strong work ethics being an integral part of Northern European culture, while at the same time having and extensive experience and knowledge of doing business with Russia.
Research and Development
Latvia is also a leader in digitization of its societies and markets. It has a bustling academic STEM environment, particularly in quantum computing and robotics. Our universities have won several awards in global robotics competitions, and has frontier-breaking research in industrial, health, domestic, defense and other technologies. The Riga Technical University, for example, has developed unique methods and algorithms for optical flow odometry critical for small mobile devices like drones.
Latvian enterprises are also actively pursuing active applied research. Deep learning AI developed by Squalio cloud consulting is already deployed across the country in transportation (e.g. in speed enforcement across the country). The JSC Latvia’s State Forests (LVM) is a forest management company managing 1.41 million ha of forest land. To manage forests effectively and sustainably, they use leading in-house developed geospatial information technologies providing users with numerous ways to view, process and analyze their data.
Latvia also actively develops international networks and builds collaborative project in the area of precision medicine. The infrastructure and flexibility that we can provide as a small and agile country attracts worldwide giants in the industry. For example, a multifaceted project that is run by University of Latvia in collaboration with pharmaceutical and IT trend setters in the field – Roche and Microsoft, is aiming to develop an open data-driven infrastructure – Data lake, which, will store different gene and health related datasets and make them available for a wide range of research questions. For example, In 2017 a Shenzhen based gene sequencing company Beijing Genom Institute (BGI) invested in Latvia and opened a R&D laboratory in cooperation with Latvian universities.
Tourism, Education and Culture
Collaboration in the fields of tourism, education and culture are intensifying as well. In the last two years, several important agreements and memorandums have been signed, thus creating a legal framework for future exchanges. The Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Science and Technology; agreement on Cooperation in Culture and Memorandum on cooperation for Think Tank Cooperation and Memorandum on Furthering Tourism Cooperation have already been signed.
Together with the events planned within the EU – China Tourism Year it will provide more opportunities for Chinese people to know about our country. We are constantly working to facilitate direct people to people contacts by offering modern and convenient solutions to visa application process and travel to Latvia. Think tank cooperation, exchanges in culture and education are increasing. In addition to considerable interest for studying the Chinese language and culture in Latvia, the Latvian language is being taught in three universities in China. The Belt and Road Academic Exchange Center has been set-up at the North China Institute of Science and Technology. A regional China Culture center is planned in Riga, aimed at further promoting understanding and exchanges between our countries. On the eve of the Olympic Games 2022 in China we are also exploring cooperation possibilities in winter sports.
Latvia is already a trusted Chinese partner in the Baltic region. There are ample opportunities to move Latvia – China cooperation forward. With the concentrated efforts of all those involved Latvia – China relations are sure to unlock its full potential.