Around 2 500 elevators in Latvia were manufactured in Belarus, which is why a full ban on imports from this country would complicate maintenance of these elevators, as stressed during a meeting of Latvia’s Saeima’s Budget and Finance Committee.
A representative of the Ministry of Economy referenced the information provided by Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks LLC, which states that there already are problems with maintenance of those elevators. Tighter restrictions would make the situation even worse.
There are 8 300 elevators in Latvia. 3 500 of them were manufactured in countries of the former USSR, including around 2 500 – in Belarus, said the ministry’s representative.
The ministry will continue compiling information received from municipalities asked to say if there could be problems if Latvia banned imports from Russia and Belarus.
Most municipalities do not have dealings with Belarus or Russia. Nevertheless, some Latvian municipalities use Belarusian-made tractors or public transports.
Problems with supplies of spare parts have made maintenance very difficult, a representative of the Ministry of Economy mentioned, referencing reports from local municipalities.
Following the initiative from Latvian residents, the Ministry of Finance has decided to start working on a solution to reduce Russia’s income from trade with companies in Latvia, as the ministry’s representative mentioned at the meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee.
The solutions proposed in the citizens’ initiative “Let’s stop paying the Russian military budget” were outlined by Jānis Taukačs, the representative of “Entrepreneurs for Peace”, at the meeting of the committee. He stated that the aim of the collective submission is to bring about changes in the legislation so that all payments to “blacklisted” or sanctioned jurisdictions, including Russia, are subject to a 90% withholding tax.
Commenting on one of the proposals related to the regulation of the European Union, the representatives of the Ministry of Finance pointed out the difficulties in its practical use. Therefore, the ministry will still think about exactly what changes to be proposed to the regulatory enactments in order to move towards the goal that less money comes to Russia from Latvian companies importing goods from Russia.
Restrictions could be proposed for Belarusian companies as well.
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