AUTHORS OF MINI COP 15 CONFERENCE
The Danish Cultural Institute Rīga
The Danish Cultural Institute was founded in August 18, 1990. Up until 1997 the Institute was located in The Union of Latvian Writers' premises in Benjamins` house on Barona Street, and later it was moved to its current location – Berga Bazars.
The Danish Cultural Institute is the first organization of this kind and its creation was supported by Danish and Latvian governments. Danish newspaper “Politiken” organized a fundraising and donated 1, 8 million Danish krones and the Union of Latvian Writers' in cooperation with Janis Peters donated 60.000 rubles. The first director of the institute was Rikke Helms and he remained in this position until 1st March 2003.
The Danish Cultural Institute was an important meeting place for Latvian and Danish politicians and cultural workers. The institute was also the center for Danish press and other media that covered the events around Popular Front.
Institute held Danish language classes and helped the first Latvian students to go study in Danish Folk schools. But mainly the Danish Cultural Institute organized various cultural activities, with the participation of Danish musicians, writers, dancers, designers and representatives of different organizations.
Uffe Elleman Jensen, Danish ex-minister of Foreign Affairs, who actively participated in the foundation of Institute, later founded the “Foundation of Democracy”. It was created to encourage the establishment of democratic traditions and protection of human rights in different parts of the world, including Eastern Europe. Due to this foundation a lot of exchange projects were arranged and students had the opportunity to live and study in Denmark.
The director of the Danish Cultural Institute is Simon Drewsen Holmberg. The aim of the Institute is to promote international understanding through information about Denmark and to further exchange of culture, ideas and experience between Denmark and other countries. Because of the fast development of Latvia, a lot of the activities that were previously organized by the Institute are now being organized by different Latvian organizations and individuals. Currently the Institute is participating in exchange projects, conferences and workshops were there is a possibility to establish a contact and communication between parts involved. Danish Cultural Institute Project coordinator is Santa Trimalniece dki@dki.lv.
AMBASSADOR'S WELCOME
Welcome to the Embassy of Denmark in Latvia!
Denmark was one of the first countries to re-establish diplomatic relations with Latvia after the regained independence in 1991. Since then the political, economical, defence and cultural relations between Denmark and Latvia have been further developed.
As the largest bilateral donor, Denmark has provided substantial economic and technical support to ensure Latvia’s integration in EU and NATO. The extensive Danish contribution e. g. to environmental protection and re-structuring of the Latvian society has created a solid foundation for a close cooperation between Latvia and Denmark in a wide range of areas on the European and transatlantic agenda. Moreover a good basis for further development in trade, investments and other kinds of economic cooperation between Danish and Latvian companies has been established.
The Embassy sees it as its main task to promote the closest possible cooperation between Denmark and Latvia and to represent the interests of Denmark in Latvia. In doing so the Embassy provides information to Danish authorities and business about the political and economic situation in the country.
The Embassy provides services for all Danish citizens and will assist individuals, companies and institutions in Denmark in establishing and expanding cooperation with Latvian partners. This web page gives you an overview of the services we offer and the persons responsible for individual tasks. We aim to provide the best possible service to everyone asking for our assistance.
We hope that you will find this web page useful, and we will be glad to get your comments or proposals for its improvement.
Best regards,
Uffe Wolffhechel,
Ambassador
Edited September 18, 2008
Source: http://www.ambriga.um.dk/en/menu/Aboutus/Ambassadorswelcome/
