Word: riga
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Trading ships have plied the Baltic for more than 1,000 years. In the 13th century, the ports of Riga, Tallinn, Danzig (now Gdansk) and Hamburg, among others, belonged to the Hanseatic League, the world's first free-trade alliance, which dominated east-west commerce in Europe for the better part of 400 years. The cold war did not freeze trade altogether, but it introduced a bitter chill. Ships continued to sail the grey waters, carrying grain to Russia, and Lada automobiles to Africa and Latin America. But cities like Riga that had ties with Western Europe were compelled...
...openness has had a visible effect in Riga. Jobs are plentiful and wages are rising fast: for construction workers, they jumped 50% last year. Prosperity is evident in everything from new Swedish hyper-markets, where parking spots are hard to come by, to the Italian cars rolling around the city's cobblestone streets. "If you want to do something, you have a future here," says Eri Esta, the 33-year-old chairman of a major stevedoring firm at the port. Esta, who graduated from a local business school in 2005, now earns a comfortable salary, takes vacations in Western Europe...
...year inflation rate hit 8.9% in April, triggering devaluation rumors. Latvian loans are denominated in euros, so devaluing the national currency, the lat, would hit debtors hard. "Like any good party it has to come to an end," says Anders Paalzow, head of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. "The question is how bad the hangover will...
...area, but a recent trend toward economic protectionism is a potential threat. Several years ago, for example, Moscow tripled export taxes on goods traveling to Latvia in order to help its own ports, a measure that has pumped up St. Petersburg but slowed growth in rivals like Riga. And despite all the hype about free trade, the Baltic Sea region is still not capitalizing on its full potential: an economic study by the Swedish Board of Trade estimates that the elimination of existing investment and trade barriers in all Baltic Sea countries would add 1% - or about $30 billion...
...Back in Riga, the first long summer evenings are bringing residents out into the cobblestone streets. Many gather near the iconic Freedom Monument, erected in 1935 in honor of the young nation's earlier experience of independence, which lasted only from 1921 to 1940. Today, the locals flock here to listen to jazz, snack on sushi and parade around in the latest Zara jeans. Down the street, billboards advertising Swedish banks (and McDonald's) mingle with a backdrop of copper-green medieval spires. Visitors wanting to understand the city's deep commitment to free trade could explore its many history...