In this difficult geopolitical situation it is vital for us to have a decisive and supportive minister, said member of the board of Latvian Aviation Association Zigmārs Vestfāls in an interview to LETA.
Commenting on the candidate voiced by the party Progressives – Saeima deputy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Atis Švinka, – Vestfāls said that he expects the minister to be a “doer” and that existing projects will be continued.
“We need more active support for the aviation sector and further implementation of projects vital to our country’s economy, because, for example, the aviation strategy directly depends on Latvia’s connectivity. In this difficult geopolitical situation, we need a decisive and supportive minister,” said Vestfāls.
He said that Švinka’s experience working in the defence sector could help improve the security situation. “The civil aviation sector wants to work in a safe environment and rely on competent institutions for support in different situations, such as the drone incident observed at the beginning of January. Perhaps we could speed up procedures and update guidelines there,” added Vestfāls.
He concluded that the new minister will need to actively cooperate with the industry, because there are many “hot” projects and issues in the transport sector.
At the same time, he also said the sector is in waiting, because many projects “are stuck in place”.
LETA previously wrote that the party Progressives have decided to propose Atis Švinka for the post of Minister of Transport.
In 2020, he ran in the 14th Saeima elections as the leading candidate in Zemgale electoral district and was elected to the parliament. He is currently a member of the board of Progressives.
In the 14th Saeima, he is a member of the Defence, Internal Affairs and Anti-Corruption Committee, as well as the National Security Committee, which means that he has the highest level of clearance to official secrets. This ensures he is also able to perform the duties of a minister.
Švinka also owns shares in multiple companies, including LLC “Ammolite”, LLC “LIC”, LLC “Mush” and LLC “LIC GOTUS”.