The workshops as part of the 'Organisation of workshops in the 27 Member States to develop a dialogue on the use of strategic public procurement (green, social and innovation)' are starting to take place in Baltic countries in full swing, first of them being in Latvia. 

The workshop in Latvia took place on 20 February 2024, in Riga, Latvia, hosted by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia at the State Chancellery’s Innovation Laboratory and prepared in collaboration with the Project Team from PwC and ICLEI, and DG GROW. 

The workshop gathered around 20 participants representing a wide spectrum of organisations playing a key role in public procurement in the Latvian context, including ministries, economic operators, central public administration institutions, big purchasing bodies, public policy think tanks, non-governmental organisations, academia, public service providers, municipalities associations and more. The participants were able to discuss different barriers for public buyers and the solutions to be developed, working together in order to identify the main elements of a roadmap for boosting the use of strategic procurement in Latvia. 

The workshop was marked by a highly productive exchange of information on the state of play of strategic procurement in Latvia, facilitated by the division of key stakeholders into three thematic breakout sessions - green, socially responsible and innovation procurement.

The workshop in Latvia was very successful and demonstrated the participating organisations’ commitment to the subject and the overall willingness to be involved in the following steps and the development of the roadmap, which will formulate the necessary actions towards a national strategy on strategic public procurement.