Willkommen in Deutschland! Largest ever Latvian trade mission visited Hamburg and Rostock
by Alexander Welscher
The Latvian-German economic partnership has taken the center stage during Latvia's largest-ever business delegation to Germany. Headed by Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and Economics Minister Viktors Valainis, more than 180 entrepreneurs from various sectors and diverse industries travelled to Germany from 24 to 26 September 2025, trying to find both new export markets and attract investment for projects at home. Fostering trade relations and business contact, the delegation went to Hamburg and Rostock for sector-specific programs covering digitalization and IT, financial technologies, biotechnology and medical technologies, renewable energy, dual technologies, sustainable construction, as well as ports and logistics.
Underscoring the scale of the mission, Valainis noted that Latvian representatives have met with more than 430 companies in Germany and that projects worth more than 1.2 billion euros in total have already been initiated during this visit. "This is an investment in our country’s future, regional security, and European growth,” he said, highlighting also the memorandum signed in Hamburg with German defense giant Rheinmetall to establish a production facility in Latvia.
In Rostock, the trade mission took part in the Latvia–Germany Business Forum that brought together more than 250 companies, academic institutions, and government officials from both countries. Opening the forum, Siliņa and Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Manuela Schwesig emphasized the strategic partnership between the two countries and their common goal - to strengthen the resilience of the region by investing in energy, digitalization and innovation.
“Our goal is to achieve tangible results for the people of Latvia and Germany – to generate new investments, expand high value-added exports, and strengthen business networks. Latvia is a reliable partner offering a stable energy environment, a competitive tax system, digital services, and dynamic growth in the defense industry,” the Latvian Prime Minister stressed in her speech, while Schwesig highlighted the common goals of both sides: "We want to strengthen the economic power of the democratic Baltic Sea region and create and secure jobs."
During their meeting, the two politicans agreed that Latvia will become a partner country of the international digital conference NØRD in 2026 and will co-organize it together with Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In presence of both Prime Minister and Valainis, also new Honorary Consulate of Latvia in Rostock headed by Tom Scheffler, Vice President of the Rostock Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was opened.
The Latvian business mission to Germany and Latvia–Germany Business Forum followed a visit of Schwesig to Latvia in May 2025. (Link to story in previous BBQ online 2025 issue), while more cooperation was also dicussed later by visit of other Latvian Ministers to Germany. While Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze visited the the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria in autumn 2025, Minister for Smart Administration and Regional Development Raimonds Čudars discussed digitalization and the digital sovereignty of Europe during a visit to Berlin in November.
