The third Northern Future Forum

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On February 28, Prime Ministers, experts and entrepreneurs of Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as the United Kingdom will gather in Rīga to discuss two key issues of regional development – ""Can green economy be competitive?"", and ""Addressing the digital divide"". This will be the third Northern Future Forum. The first forum was held in January, 2011, while the second - in February, 2012 in Stockholm. At the conclusion of the second forum, the Heads of State supported the proposal made by Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis to organize the third forum in Rīga.

Information and communication technologies contribute to the availability and quality of information, offer a variety of communication options, reduce administrative burden, resource consumption, as well as promote the development of information services and application software, which can be used by everyone. Therefore, in order to ensure the broadest possible involvement of citizens in e-environment and in use of information and communication technologies, there is a need to bridge the digital divide, namely to build citizens’ confidence, knowledge, as well as skills and opportunities to obtain the information they need through various e-resources and e-services.

 

Today, under conditions of global integration and mobile workforce, it is essential to integrate sustainability in every aspect of society. Financial, economic sustainability, as well as sustainability of human resources, manufacturing and society will drive our economy towards a model of green economy, linking economic development and needs of an individual and society.

The model of green economy applies not only to green energy and renewable energy sources, but also to a vision about more sustainable development of the financial sector, which is characterized by responsible capital growth and strong links between science and entrepreneurship development.

Traditionally, the meetings will be held in format of informal discussions. Exchange of creative ideas will take place in eight discussions – four devoted to competitiveness of green economy, and four to bridging the digital divide. At the conclusion of the Forum, the Prime Ministers will present conclusions made during the discussions
http://www.futureforum2013.gov.lv/en/

 

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