2021

Stakeholders Sign a Memorandum of Cooperation on the Promotion of Wood in Construction

The Ministry of Economics and a number of public administration institutions, non-governmental organizations and State capital companies have agreed on joint cooperation to promote the production and use of wood construction materials and construction products with high added value in construction, thus promoting sustainable construction and economic growth in Latvia.

“It is important for Latvia to build competence and capacity both for the use of wood in construction and in the production of wood building materials and construction products in order to be competitive in both domestic and export markets. Therefore, it is necessary to create conditions for equal or better opportunities to use sustainable and more environmentally friendly building materials in construction,” says Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs.

“Latvia's State Forests appreciate the initiative of the Ministry of Economics. The signing of such a memorandum will promote the use of wood in construction. It is because wood is a widely available and renewable natural resource. It is a CO2-neutral construction material that has captured carbon from the air and stored it safely throughout the life of the building. Moreover, we have so much wood in Latvia that it will definitely be enough for all the buildings that we plan to implement in the future,” says Tomass Kotovičs, Head of LVM Communication Unit of JSC “Latvia’s State Forests”.

The construction sector plays an important role in the economic growth of Latvia, as it is one of the largest sectors in terms of material consumption. Consequently, by increasing the demand for sustainable building materials and construction products manufactured from local renewable natural resources, the construction industry has the opportunity to promote the development of the production of these building materials and construction products in Latvia.

The Memorandum of Cooperation on the promotion of the use of wood in construction has been signed by the Ministry of Economics, the State Construction Control Bureau, the Latvian Partnership of Construction Contractors, the Latvian Association of Local Governments, State Joint Stock Company “Valsts nekustamie īpašumi”, State Limited Liability Company “Latvijas standards”, Latvia University of Agriculture, Riga Technical University Faculty of Civil Engineering, Latvian Timber Industry Federation, Latvian Timber Construction Cluster and the National Alliance of Real Estate Developers.