Digital transformation Press release

Riga, 26 March 2020 - Representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and the Finnish Ministry of Finance today discussed cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence at a remote video meeting, assessing opportunities for the shared use and development of technologies.

Currently, while evaluating the development of proactive and life-based state services, Latvia will take advantage of the achievements of the Finnish artificial intelligence platform AURORA AI, while the Finnish side is interested in the capabilities of the Latvian Machine Translation and Virtual Assistants Platform HUGO. At the same time, both countries will share experience in data processing and management. A successful joint merger of such platforms in the future would not only allow our citizens to receive proactive services based on personalised life situations in recommendations and recommendations, but in the long run it would allow joint cross-border services to be developed. . For example, when citizens move between countries, they could receive in the same system all the services that the person concerned needs or needs in both countries in order to organise their daily lives, for example if a student or a businessman from Latvia travels to Finland.

The development of artificial intelligence solutions plays a key role in the development of a data-based economy, public services and other services demanded by society. Countries are currently making significant investments in various artificial intelligence solutions and platforms to exploit these opportunities. Countries often develop similar solutions in parallel. We have been encouraged to look for ways in which Latvia and other countries can work together and share existing platforms, or to develop new platforms together. .

Environment Protection and Regional Development Minister Juris Pūce (AP!): “Member States of the European Union can improve their effectiveness by working together to allow countries to focus their research and development resources on priority areas while sharing solutions that have already been developed. The Nordic countries and the Baltic States are seen as leaders in the European Union in the field of digital transformation in the State administration and the purpose of cooperation between Latvia and Finland is to demonstrate the potential of this region in developing a single digital market and creating unique services and platforms. "

Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, the representatives of the Centre for Cultural Information Systems and the Finnish Ministry of Finance agreed today on the next steps during the video meeting to continue closer cooperation at government level on the use of artificial intelligence technologies.

Other information:

Agnes Vārpina
Minister's Councillor for Communications and Public Relations
Ministry for Environmental Protection and Regional Development
Tel. 67026478, email: agnese.varpina@varam.gov.lv
vwww.varam.gov.lv