Juris Paiders / Autori

In late July, the Ministry of Health launched a campaign to curb alcohol consumption. The reason was the statistics compiled by the World Health Organization, which showed that Latvia is the biggest alcohol drinking country in Europe.

According to statistics compiled by the International Trade Center and the UN agency COMTRADE, Latvia is not only one of the European leaders in terms of alcohol consumption, but Latvia is also a major power in Europe in terms of strong alcohol production and exports. In 2020, Latvia (the eighth largest in Europe and the thirteenth in the world by volume) produced and exported almost half a billion (474 million) US dollars in spirits.

According to the statistics compiled by the International Trade Center, the Latvian commercial banking system was “put in order” by practically abandoning the export of financial services. In the period from 2017 to 2020, Latvia is the European leader in terms of the relative volume by which the export of financial services decreased. Latvia is in the first place in Europe in terms of the decline in financial services. In 2017, Latvia's exports of financial services amounted to almost half a billion (495 million) US dollars. In 2020, Latvia's exports of financial services were only 154 million dollars.

For virtually the entire 21st century, the military presence of the United States and its allies in Afghanistan ensured the stability of the authoritarian but religiously secular regimes in Central Asia.

Global business has long used people's fears and phobias that have been created through information campaigns as the main tool for seizing financial resources. Scared people are demanding that governments act immediately, that governments spend national resources according to the needs of global business.

Uz Neatkarīgās jautājumiem atbild Ventspils valstspilsētas pašvaldības domes priekšsēdētājs Jānis Vītoliņš

Jānis Vītoliņš, Chairman of the Ventspils City Council, answers the Neatkarīgā's questions

On July 22, China's National Health Commission rejected a proposal by the World Health Organization to re-test the laboratories and markets in Wuhan to test the hypothesis that Covid-19 had been released into the environment from a Chinese laboratory.

10. – 11. jūlijā netālu no Raunas pie Lubūža ezera (Smiltenes un Cēsu novadu teritorijā) notika šogad pirmās rogaininga sacensības naktī – “Pusnakts rogainings”.

On July 10-11, near Rauna by the Lubūzis lake (in the territory of Smiltene and Cēsis municipalities), the first night rogaining competition took place this year - "Midnight rogaining".

According to the calculations of the International Trade Center, in 2020 Latvia was in the first place in the world in terms of the amount of exported peat. In 2020, Latvia exported 1.97 million tons of peat, Germany – 1.50 million tons, and Canada - 1.42 million tons of peat. In 2020, Estonia exported 1.32 million tons, the Netherlands 1.24 million tons and Ireland 0.93 million tons of peat.

Actions to quickly overthrow the Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko failed. One of the side effects of such a failure is that an authoritarian leader can pursue a policy that is very unpleasant for its neighbors, and if an authoritarian leader stays in power for a long time, Belarus's neighbors on the EU side will have to pay the brunt of the failed coup attempt.

Bens Latkovskis' article in Neatkarīgā on July 6 started a discussion on the question of whether all companies, all people must engage in each global conflict with the leaders of a country who sometimes violate the norms of a civilized society and do not respect international law.

On July 6, the Supreme Court of Belarus sentenced Viktar Babaryka, one of Belarus' most prominent opposition figures, to 14 years in prison. In 2020, Viktar Babaryka planned to run in the presidential election, but he was detained shortly before the election. Formally, the lawsuit was not political, as the candidate for the presidency of Belarus was accused of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.

According to the calculations of the International Trade Center, in 2020 Latvia was in third place in the world in terms of the volume of exported rye. In 2020, Poland exported 1.29 million tons of rye, Germany - 265 thousand tons of rye, and Latvia exported 168 thousand tons of rye. In rye exports, in 2020 Latvia overtook Canada, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, France and other countries. Latvia's share in the global rye market, calculated by the amount of grain, was 7.7%. In 2020, the main buyers of Latvian rye were companies from Spain, Russia, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and Belgium.

Recently, at the EU level in particular, there is a growing influence of policies that are characterized by special treatment for all animals used by humans. The most aggressive ones in this direction are even demanding that everyone follow the lifestyle they follow, and insisting that everyone adopt their value system in relation to wildlife. Sometimes these aggressive animal rights activists are equated with vegans, as well as those who do not eat meat and encourage others to follow suit.

On June 29, a seminar on China's development and new opportunities in Sino-Latvian relations was organized by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Latvia. The Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Latvia Liang Jianquan emphasized that the date of the seminar had been chosen because the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary on July 1.

Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Latvia Liang Jianquan answers Neatkarīgā's questions.

Uz Neatkarīgās jautājumiem atbild Ķīnas Tautas Republikas vēstnieks Latvijā Lians Dzjaņcjuaņs.

Such conclusions arise from a report published last week by Transparency International, entitled "Global Corruption Barometer - EU 2021."

Such conclusions arise from a report published this week by Transparency International, entitled "Global Corruption Barometer - EU 2021."

The goal of a commercial company in the real economy is to increase or maintain sales of its products or services. Websites are just a way to find customers, place an order and make a purchase. Depending on the type of service or product, the quantity, as well as the conditions under which the services are provided and the goods are delivered, a website is very often an extremely effective tool. Sales of products or services can also take place traditionally by telephone call, face-to-face purchase, postal deliveries, text messages, e-mail and any other form of communication.