Friday News: 7 October 2016

Dear Members and Friends,

The opening seminar of our new project - the BritCham Academy - is already next week! On Tuesday 12 October the seminar on Purposeful Branding will take place. There are only a few places left, so if you wish to attend and have not signed up yet, please do so now. Read more about it below or on BritCham website.

The week after that on 18 October we are having our traditional New Members' Evening. While the new members are preparing the presentations we invite all our members to register for the evening and do come and hear what the newcomers have to say. 

Contents

Upcoming Events

• NEXT WEEK: BritCham Academy: Purposeful Branding - Making Profit and World a Better Place At The Same Time on 12 October 
• New Members' Evening on 18 October NEW 

News

• KPMG Baltics Makes A Donation To The BritCham Charity Fund NEW
• Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel’s New General Manager – Thomas A. Swieca NEW
• Rīga’s Restaurant Week at Restaurant NIKLĀVS NEW
• National Theatre Live - A View from the Bridge NEW
• FICIL: Pilot Project – Mediation In Tax Disputes 
• Kronbergs & Čukste Joins DERLING Network Of Law Firms 

Member to Member Offers

• Member to Member Offer of the Week NEW

Upcoming Events

BritCham Academy: Purposeful Branding - Making Profit and World a Better Place At The Same Time

View full size poster here.

On 12 October at 9:00 we invite you to the opening session of a new BritCham project - the BritCham Academy. The Academy is planned as a series of monthly morning seminars covering different topics that will be oriented on various company departments - Marketing, HR, Finances and others. 

Our morning seminars will give an opportunity to BritCham members to gain knowledge about the newest business trends, hot topics and dream projects. BritCham Academy will be for learning and sharing. Each attendee in addition to the seminar and discussion will be invited to introduce themselves.

Both prior and after the event there will be time for the attendees to talk about business.

To acknowledge the most active attendees, the BritCham Academy will issue a certificate for those who will attend 3 and more sessions during the season.

TOPIC OF THE OPENING SEMINAR ON 12 OCTOBER:

PURPOSEFUL BRANDING - MAKING PROFIT AND WORLD A BETTER PLACE AT THE SAME TIME

SPEAKER: 
Edgars Pētersons, strategic planner and partner at creative agency Weekend. Major projects include LMT rebranding, building of Zelta Zivtina brand, Swedbank rebranding and development of other leading Latvian brands. Since April 2015 he is successfully developing his own agency that works with brands like Bite, Rimi Baltic, Jameson and others.

VENUE:
SemaraH Hotel Metropole, Aspazijas bulv. 36/38, Riga

ADMISSION:
FREE for BritCham members
EUR 35 for non- members
Breakfast buffet from 7:00 – 10:30 for a special price of EUR 8 (optional)

REGISTRATION:
Website sign-up, email events@britcham.lv or call 25 45 6000

New Members' Evening

View full size poster here.

We have the pleasure to invite you to the Autumn New Members' Evening on 18 October. 

Use the chance to meet BritCham new members and learn more about them! As always, it will also be an opportunity for all members to mix and mingle in the cordial atmosphere of the British Ambassador's Residence. Appetizing snacks and drinks will be provided by Casa Nostra.

Admission: Complimentary (BritCham Members Only).
Date&time: 18 October 2016 at 18:30
Venue: British Ambassador's Residence, British Embassy Building, 5 J. Alunana Street, Riga
Registration: Website sign-up, e-mail info@britcham.lv or call 25 45 6000 

News

KPMG Baltics Makes A Donation To The BritCham Charity Fund

The BritCham Charity Fund has received it's first major contribution – from KPMG Baltics! We are truly grateful for it as it will help the Fund to grow and make a real difference by allowing us to support more projects and charities. We would like to send our heartfelt thanks to KPMG Baltics!

KPMG is one of the largest global networks of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services. The first KPMG office in the Baltics was opened in Estonia in 1992, followed by Lithuania and Latvia in 1994 and Belarus in 2007. KPMG clients include business corporations, governments and public sector agencies and not-for-profit organizations. They look to KPMG for a consistent standard of service based on high order professional capabilities, industry insight and local knowledge. KPMG member firms can be found in 155 countries. Collectively they employ more than 174,000 people across a range of disciplines. 

The BritCham Charity Fund was founded in December 2015 and on 8 July 2016 the State Revenue Service by the decision No. 30.6-8.2/55,320 has granted it the Public Benefit Organization Status of the charitable sector. It enables us to provide support to different projects throughout the year, as needs and opportunities arise to support worthy causes that are brought to our attention.

We encourage everybody to follow the commendable example of KPMG Baltics and consider supporting projects that need our attention and help.

"BritCham Labdarības fonds"
Registration No: 40008245477
IBAN: LV19HABA0551041265900 
Swedbank |  Swift Code: HABALV22

The Britcham Charity fund is always looking for good causes to support so if you have any proposals for funding, please send them in.

Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel’s New General Manager – Thomas A. Swieca Primary tabs

Since August 1st 2016 the Rezidor Hotel Group appointed Mr. Thomas A. Swieca as a new General Manager of Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel in Riga, Latvia. He follows on Mika Virtanen, who moved within the Rezidor Hotel Group to take over new responsibilities in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Swieca, a German national has a wealth of experience in the hospitality industry spanning over 25 years. Having started his career at the Hotel Bristol in Bonn in 1984, Swieca went on to hold a number of positions.

In 2005, Swieca joined Rezidor Hotel Group as General Manager for the opening of the Radisson Blu Media Harbour Hotel in Dusseldorf, Germany. In 2009, he took responsibility for the Radisson Blu Resort, El Quseir in Egypt. From 2011 he was appointed as new General Manager for Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Cesme in Turkey. In 2013 he moved to Belgrade, Serbia for the pre-opening and operting of the Radisson Blu Old Mill Hotel - his recent position.

“Riga is a beautiful city with many beautiful and very special hotels. The Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel is one of the most famous hotels in town. The list of international celebrities and well known people who stayed here is endless. With all previous and future renovations we will bring back the glamour and spirit of this outstanding Hotel.
Changes are chances, take them and keep on moving!”, - says new General Manager.

Thomas A. Swieca holds a National Diploma from Hotel School WIHOGA in Dortmund, Germany and in addition to his native German, he speaks English and French.

Read full article here.

Rīga’s Restaurant Week at Restaurant NIKLĀVS

It’s already October, which means that Riga’s Autumn restaurant week is about to start.  

For the week of 10 to 16 October you are invited to enjoy the Restaurant NIKLĀVS Chef’s specially prepared 3 course meal for a very attractive price – 20.00 EUR.

The restaurant week’s theme is „Nature’s plate”.  This means that the meals include seasonal produce available during Latvia’s autumn such as cep mushrooms, venison and quince and produce that is available in our forests, lakes, rivers and gardens.

Menu:

• Warm butter beans with goats’ cheese whipped in beetroot juice with wild mushrooms in an aspic of cep mushrooms
• Venison roulade with country bacon, chestnut and cep mushroom stuffing and bilberry gravy
• Creamed cottage cheese and mascarpone with lime, peppermint and an assortment of berry pastilles, served with a quince and pear sauce

3 course meal - 20 EUR per person

National Theatre Live - A View from the Bridge

Following its smash-hit original broadcast, the Young Vic’s ‘magnetic, electrifying, astonishingly bold’ production of A View from the Bridge returns to cinemas due to audience demand. The screening will take place on 12 October 18:30 at Kino Citadele.

This stunning production of Miller’s tragic masterpiece won a trio of 2014 Olivier Awards including Best Revival, Best Actor for Mark Strong (The Imitation Game; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Best Director for Ivo van Hove.

Performances are in English, with subtitles in English.

More information here.

FICIL: Pilot Project – Mediation In Tax Disputes

Foreign Investors' Council in Latvia (FICIL) has launched a pilot project with the Ministry of Finance “Mediation in Tax disputes”. FICIL are now looking for partners from their corporate and associate members. 

Background and aim of the project
The aim of the FICIL pilot project is to find and highlight benefits of mediation for tax payers and State Revenue Service, perform mediation within the existing legal administrative process framework (where mediation is not envisaged yet) and on the basis of the pilot project results offer amendments to the legislation in order to introduce mediation as fully legitimate way of handling certain kinds of tax disputes.
The idea for this project is a follow up from our position paper “Facilitating Efficiency of the Court System in 2013” where we suggested introducing mediation principle in Latvian legislation and which in 2014 resulted in the Law on Mediation in civil disputes. In a number of Tax position papers we have asked for introduction of mediation in Tax disputes as well. The mediation pilot project aims to test the idea in practice. The pilot project is discussed and supported by the Ministry of Finance, from FICIL side it is led by Mrs Baiba Strupiša, Eversheds.

To find out about your opportunity to participate please click here. 

If you have any questions or would like to receive more information, please contact FICIL:
67 217 201 or ficil@ficil.lv 

Kronbergs & Čukste Joins DERLING Network Of Law Firms

Kronbergs & Čukste is pleased to inform that they have co-founded a new quality Pan Baltic network known as the DERLING by combining three very experienced leading Baltic law firm teams committed to bringing hassle-free top quality legal services to their clients.

Their partners in the DERLING network of law firms are DOMINAS DERLING in Lithuania and DERLING in Estonia. Henceforth, their law firm shall be known as KRONBERGS ČUKSTE DERLING.

For more information, please visit their website: www.kcderling.lv.

Member to Member Offers

Member to Member Offer

Did you know that PricewaterhouseCoopers offers BritCham Members a regular offer? 

They offer us the opportunity to subscribe to MindLink.lv for a period of one year and receive 3 months as a bonus! 

MindLink.lv is a tool designed for tax, accounting and finance professionals to help them keep abreast of new developments in Latvian tax law and the application of the Latvian tax rules in relation to a range of transactions. 

For details contact Inga Kempele at +371 67094400

View the offer here.

Check Out Current Member-to-Member Offers, Use Them Actively & Add Your Offer.

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