Foreword
Going Digital in Latvia is part of a new series of OECD country reviews. The OECD Reviews of Digital Transformation examine recent country developments in the digital economy, analyse policies related to digitalisation and make recommendations to increase policy coherence in this area.
Going Digital in Latvia explores recent developments in infrastructure for the digital economy, telecom markets, and related regulations and policies in Latvia. It reviews trends in the use of digital technologies by individuals, businesses and the government, and examines policies to foster diffusion. The Review also analyses opportunities and challenges raised by digitalisation in key areas and evaluates policy responses to these changes. The areas covered range from innovation and skills to digital security and data governance.
The Review considers these policies in relation to their coherence among different domains in order to foster synergies across government ministries and institutions, based on the OECD Going Digital Integrated Policy Framework.
Going Digital in Latvia was undertaken following an invitation by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, which also provided financial support. The Review was carried out by the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation under the auspices of the OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy.
The Review was prepared by a team led by Vincenzo Spiezia and including Duncan Cass-Beggs, Ghislain De Salins, Rory O’Farrell, Joshua Polchar, Lorrayne Porciuncula, Elettra Ronchi, Julia Staudt, Jan Tscheke and Akira Yoshida, under the supervision of Anne Carblanc and Audrey Plonk, respectively the former and current Head of the Digital Economy Division. The Review has also benefited from comments by Hermann Garden, Oscar Huerta Melchor, Gernot Hutschenreiter, George Kamiya, Kenza Khachani, Soo-Jin Kim, Aline Matta, Jilian Oderkirk, Atsuhito Oshima and Dirk Pilat.
The authors owe much to the support and co-operation of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia (Vides Aizsardzības un Reģionālās Attīstības Ministrija, VARAM), in particular Elita Zvaigzne, Arnis Skraučs, Laura Gintere, Gatis Ozols, āris Dzērvāns, Lauris Linabergs, Mikus Jēkabsons, Uģis Bisenieks, Jānis Glazkovs, Margarita Krišlauka and Karīna Eglīte-Miezīte, as well as to Artis Grīnbergs and Prof. Edvīns Karnītis.
The Review draws on the results of a series of interviews with a wide range of stakeholders conducted during two missions to Latvia in April and December 2019, including: Ainars Andersons, Uldis Apsītis, Mikus Arājs, Armands Aivo Astukevičs, Signe Bāliņa, Dāvis Baumanis, Daiga Behmane, Edmunds Beļskis, Iveta Bērtulsone, Lāsma Dilba, Andrejs Dombrovskis, Uldis Doniņš, Oļegs Fiļipovičs, Alnis Garkājis, Jānis Grēviņš, Linda Helmane, Gundars Ignats, Aiga Irmeja, Juris Kalējs, Zita Kanberga, Inga Kasicka, Maija Katkovska, Baiba Kļaviņa, Sandis Kondrats, Katrīna Kosa-Ammari, Mārcis Kroja, Aivars Lapiņš, Artis Lapiņš, Rolands Lappuķe, Agnese Lukevica, Nellija Mahova, Juris Matvejs, Vismands Menjoks, Gatis Mezītis, Sarmīte Mickēviča, Jeļena Muhina, Vita Narnicka, Aleksejs Nipers, Laura Očagova, Jānis Paiders, Inita Pavloviča, Prof. Jurģis Poriņš, Vitālijs Rakstiņš, Zane Rozkalne, Prof. Leo Seļāvo, Kristīne Šica, Ilze Sīle, Agnese Šķēle, Ieva Skujēns-Skujiņa, Kristaps Soms, Ilze Štrassere, Renāte Strazdiņa, Rolands Strazdiņš, Elīna Stungrevica, Laura Treimane, Dainis Valdmanis, Uldis Zariņš, Olga Zeile and Sanita Žogota.
On 15 May 2020, the OECD Council invited Costa Rica to become a Member. At the time of preparation of this publication, the deposit of Costa Rica’s instrument of accession to the OECD Convention was pending and therefore Costa Rica does not appear in the list of OECD Members and is not included in the OECD zone aggregates.
