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On 22 October 2025, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Baiba Braže, held a discussion with the OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on bilateral cooperation, support to Ukraine, the role of the OECD in the world and the organization’s enlargement.
Baiba Braže welcomed the OECD Ukraine Country Programme and the work of the OECD Kyiv Office to implement reforms in policy areas and public governance and achieve OECD standards. This will help Ukraine on its path to joining the European Union.
The Foreign Minister also underlined that it was important for all the OECD countries, including Latvia, to streamline their public administration and reduce red tape in order to promote entrepreneurship and investment in research and development. The Minister praised the analysis and recommendations made by the OECD experts on structural reforms conducive to economic growth.
Baiba Braže briefed Mathias Cormann about Latvia’s achievements in quantum technologies and noted that Latvia is the first Baltic state to have created a national-level quantum-secure communication network. The Foreign Minister also pointed out that Latvian scientists have been invited to develop the future EU quantum internet strategy. Baiba Braže expressed satisfaction with the fact that Latvia has just been approved for the EU artificial intelligence project of AI Factory Antennas.
The officials agreed that the OECD should continue to advance development cooperation policy. Latvia joined the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) this year.
OECD Secretary-General has arrived in Latvia at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braže, and he is taking part in an international conference, Digitalization & Connectivity: Techritory 2025. Mathias Cormann also had meetings with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education and Science, the Minister of Agriculture, officials at the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development, and the staff of Riga Technical University and the Tilde language technology company.
The Techritory forum has been bringing together high-level experts, entrepreneurs, policymakers, members of the academic sector and other leaders from the innovation and technology industries in Latvia for the eighth consecutive year.
This is the third visit by the OECD Secretary-General to Latvia, Mathias Cormann visited Riga in 2022 and 2024 to present the OECD’s periodic survey of the Latvian economy.