FICIL another year at the Governments table March 2014 I will - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

FICIL – another year at the Government’s table March 2014

I will talk about: • Our cooperation with government – Day to day work to improve the business environment and investment climate in Latvia • High Council this year – Work groups. Key messages

FICIL corporate members: 29 major investors

FICIL corporate members: 29 major investors

FICIL associate members

Goals and Outputs Goals: • Make ourselves available to members and other • Enhance our contribution to the public stakeholders and partners debate Outputs: • Meetings with members: 21 member visited, • Media strategy: topic based approach special focus on visiting regions – Low key; seeking to contribute to adding value [new aspect] to a discussion – Membership driven: Members, the Board believe it would be • Electronic outreach to members: monthly of value to comment (Privatisation of land in rural areas, Maxima tragedy, waste management in Latvia, Adoption of “News to Members” e-mail to members about Euro, Energy policy) FICIL activities (9 e-mails since April 2013) – Quality not quantity: Contribute written comments to major news and Internet outlets – Reach: Always take part in high level discussions with • Meetings with other stakeholders: next slide national and international opinion leaders (WB, EU)

Other Stakeholders Business PM office Ministries NGO’s Research EU in FICIL NGO’s Latvia Chambers Embassies Parliament of Commerce

2014 IN FOCUS FICIL AT THE GOVERNMENT’S TABLE

2013 Position Papers Court system efficiency Public procurement Legislative efforts supported/initiated by Work group started to review regulation on FICIL progress (e.g. arbitration). procurement by public utilities providers. Transparency of court decisions and FICILs positions included in next set of effectiveness of process increased via e- amendments proposed by the PMs thematic solutions. Court system integrated to raise work group of which we are an active effectiveness (FICIL one of few vocal member. supporters) Backlogs of cases are shrinking. Out of our reach: quality of decisions and personnel.

2013 Position Papers Waste management policy Tax and macroeconomics Legislative process just reached Parliament, Law on Governance of Publicly owned our arguments actively used by the corporation heard by Parliament in the first Competition authority. FICIL actively reading, FICILs initiatives are included. participates in w/g and Committee Improved communication and cooperation discussions in the Parliament, vocal in the with SRS (weakness our side due to work public realm. group capacity). Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy for Energy sector policy the Transportation Sector Energy sector ignores all structured policy advice, focusing on political arguments and World Bank research on ports competitiveness and governance in Latvia commissioned and carried out. short-term solutions. Our projections, Proposals for improvement of ports are being developed however, have been correct. based on WB report, courts’ decisions, State Audit findings, and proposals submitted as input for the review of EU member states’ competitiveness

Insolvency Law: Case Study FICIL letter to the Parliament FICIL letter to MoJ: 1 Meeting with MoJ Proposals for the with Proposals Improvement of the January 2013 17 Meetings at the CoM approves the Insolvency Process Parliamentary Committee March amendments developed by MoJ and passes 2014 March 8 FICIL Insolvency w/g June 2013 2012 them to the Parliament meetings September 5 Meetings with partners (Bank 2012 Association, LTRK etc) November 2012 First reading November of the law in 2013 May 2012 Saeima Position paper on Second reading Proposals for the of the law in Saeima Improvement of the Insolvency Process

HIGH COUNCIL 2014

Working towards the High Council 1. Justice and Courts system - position paper The PP on Investment protection will address the key legal aspects considered before the final decision to invest or discontinue investment in a particular country. Particular focus on security of deeds and contractual relationship, security and veracity of the object of investment (e.g. shares) and certain particular issues specific to Latvia, such as closed corporations. As customary, we will address conceptual as well as more narrow legal issues pertaining to security of investment: predictability of legal environment as well as specific norms in material as well as procedural law. 2. Tax and Macroeconomics – position paper Macroeconomic paper ties in closely with other positions of FICIL and summarises, as is customary current and prospective challenges to the Latvian economy. We have taken a broad look at all major microeconomic factors, focusing on social (staring from demography to labour market) and restating the key [and lacking] aspects of governance that investors follow (such as continuation of administrative reform, political will and administrative capacity for implementing economic reforms), quality of regulation and effective mechanisms of redress. EU funds management – follow up (2013); Procurement - follow up (2013); Construction – follow up (2010); Insolvency - follow up (2012); Education – follow up (2009&2010); SOE’s – follow up (2012); Waste management - follow up (2013); Transports and logistics - follow up (2013)

Working towards the High Council 3. Health and welfare - position paper Health PP will addresses inefficiencies of health system governance in Latvia, urging for smart vertical integration (avoiding redundancies), fostering health competition where such is meaningful, addressing need for better governance and proper change management (separating service provision from governance). The goal: accessible, fair and qualitative services for society, no double charges. Better and smarter management of resources. Addressing the issue of “Walking the Talk”, will focus on prevention and primary care and investment in specialised care. 4. Public and private partnership – position paper PPP in Latvia is seen (wrongly) as by and large another source of funding public needs, often, where all else fails, as opposed to a smart choice to cut costs of day to day exploitation (minimise the cost long term) and obtain more efficient and effective result for the society. Lack of positive examples and trust towards private partners currently cited amongst major discouragement for decision makers. FICIL will address this aspect looking for and at particular needs where PPP is the most appropriate way towards quality and economy for government, suggest way forward on how to arrive at the long-expected good example. In addition to that suggest general improvements for governance of public investment initiatives. 5. Intellectual property protection – position paper Sound protection of IP is an essential if neglected driver for knowledge-based economy and national competitiveness. One of the key conditions required for such a goal is a fully functional system of intellectual property promotion and protection. FICIL suggests measures re improvement of existing legal framework, implementation of regulations as well as general informational effort on importance of protecting intellectual property rights whilst also addressing the need (by actively participating in EU-level work) to strive for a fair balance between rightholders and social interests in an information society.

Walking the Talk - Lack of leadership - OECD - Latvia’s EU presidency

Marianne Abib-Pech - General Electric Company, Corporate Financial Services, Financial Planning & Analysis Manager, Europe - Eastman Kodak SA, European Headquarters, Digital Films and Imaging System (DFIS) Finance Director EAMER - General Electric Company, Global Consumer Products (GPC) - Motorola Inc., European Headquarters, Senior Corporate Auditor - Arthur Andersen & Co, Audit division In 2012, Marianne decided to start a more entrepreneurial and impactful chapter in her career. She moved to Hong-Kong, was commissioned by the prestigious Financial Times to write the Leadership volume of their business series, that was published in 2013. Subsequently, she founded two companies: LeadtheFuture is an innovative leadership consulting practice. SylarCapital is a boutique financial advising platform for Mid-Cap operating in the highly strategic Energy and Mining sectors. Marianne sits on the board of several start-ups and investment funds and is a very active Angel investor. Her objective is to act as a catalyst of ideas (via the writing), businesses (via the financial advising) and of people (via the leadership practice) to contribute to the emerging of a new and better world. She is a regular contributor to the Independent, the Huffington Post and hosts a monthly alternative Investment column for Global Corporate Venturing publication.