Dear CanCham Members and Friends,

The first seven months of 2026 have been an active period for CanCham, with continued membership growth, a strong program of business and networking events, and further development of the Strategic Partnership Initiative (SPI). CanCham continues to focus on strengthening commercial relationships between Canada and Latvia and creating practical opportunities for Canadian companies and CanCham members.

We also need to recognize that the current economic environment between Canada and the United States has resulted in a major effort by Canada to diversify its trade relationships towards Europe. This effort is now beginning to gain momentum and works to our advantage.

The Embassy of Canada to Latvia has stated its top two priorities:

• support of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in their leadership role with Task Force Latvia (TFL) as part of the NATO commitment to Latvia’s security,
• The development of stronger commercial and trade relations between Canada and Latvia.

CanCham supports the Canadian Embassy’s commercial and defence objectives through its event programs and various networking initiatives, with an emphasis on developing strong personal and business relationships. Special attention is being given to the recently introduced Strategic Partnership Initiative (SPI). We also support the CAF and TFL by organizing procurement seminars to help connect them with Latvian and Canadian service and equipment providers.

Strategic Partnership Initiative (SPI)

The SPI has continued to develop during 2026. The group has also refined the basic parameters of the initiative.

• The top priority is to attract Canadian companies as members of CanCham Latvia.
• The overall objective is to attract Canadian companies to Northeastern Europe and connect them with CanCham members and the extended local network so that both sides can benefit from established European sales and business networks.
• The initiative is intended to facilitate connections and partnerships rather than directly manage sector-specific projects.
• It also creates direct business opportunities for CanCham members providing market-entry, legal, accounting and related services.
• SPI Coordinators are approaching Canadian chambers, business organizations and municipalities in Canada to establish cooperative relationships and gain access to Canadian business communities.
• CanCham and member sell sheets are being developed as practical tools to introduce the Chamber and promote participating companies.

Current SPI participants in Canada include Aira Darzins (Muskoka), Andris Ķesteris (Ottawa), Arnis Rozītis (Calgary), Karen Verbeek (Toronto and York regions), Reinis Briedis (Barrie), Susan Mogensen (Ottawa). Participants in Latvia include Daiga Bauer, Ed Kalvins, Liene Sestule and Mārtiņš Āriņš. Specialist areas currently identified include defence, IT and construction. This group has been meeting every Thursday evening (Riga time) to develop contacts and opportunities for our members. We thank them for their dedication in helping to connect Canadian and Latvian businesses.

Upcoming events

• Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 18.30 – CanCham Corner, Tinto “Wine Library”, Elizabetes 59.
• Monday, September 28, 2026 at 16.00 – CanCham Show & Tell, Radisson Latvija. Canadian companies will be able to present and/or participate via ZOOM.
• Monday, October 12, 2026 at 18.30 – Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner, Radisson Elizabete.
• Monday, November 2, 2026 from 12.00 to 15.00 – TFL Procurement Seminar, at Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel.
• Week of November 24, 2026 – CanChams of Europe meeting in Paris.
• Monday, December 14, 2026 at 18.30 – CanCham Christmas, Pullman Hotel

Refer to https://cancham.lv/EVENTS/upcoming-events-list for the latest information about events.

Past events in 2026 have included:

• January 8 – New Year’s CanCham Corner at the Pullman Hotel
• January 26 – CanCham Annual General Meeting at the International School of Riga
• Monday, February 16th, 2026 - Procurement Seminar with Defence Construction Canada (DCC) at the Radisson Daugava.
• Thursday, March 26, 2026 - CanCham Strategic Partnership Seminar for members only via ZOOM
• Monday, April 10th, 2026 - CanCham Corner Canada in Toronto
• Monday, April 13th, 2026 – Expanding Business Horizons at the Wellton Riverside SPA Hotel
• Monday, April 27th, 2026 – “Meet a Member” event - Mogotel Hotel Group at the Wellton Riverside SPA Hotel
• June 3 – Farewell reception for Ambassador Brian Szwarc at the Radisson Rīdzene Hotel
• July 1 – Canada Day BBQ at RigaApartment.com at the Sonada Hotel Gardens

Event reports with links to albums are located in the News at https://cancham.lv/ 

Those who are not familiar with CanCham, please refer to our brochure (https://cancham.lv/about-cancham/brochure). We would be pleased if our members and friends shared it with their friends, and encouraged them to join the CanCham community.

Please follow https://cancham.lv/ for new and event updates.