President of Latvia, Egils Levits, to open International Economics Olympiad

This year, the IEO will be held online from 26 July to 1 August and will have the largest number of participants so far – over 200 students from all continents. The competition is hosted by Latvia and organized by the Faculty of Business, Management and Economics (FBME) at the University of Latvia (UL).

President of Latvia, Egils Levits: “I am pleased that Latvia is the host of the 4th International Economics Olympiad. In these challenging times, it will be exciting to follow the students from all over the world demonstrating their knowledge and argumentation skills in economics and business – like the improvement of taxation and support systems to foster economic recovery after the Covid-19 crisis.”

The following countries will be represented in the IEO by national teams of five students: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

“Economic growth lies at the core of welfare of every nation, and it is possible only when a society has sufficient understanding of economic regularities. At the same time, individual segments of the economy cannot develop in proud solitude. LMT has always supported education and interdisciplinary networking that creates added value. Our fruitful collaboration with scientific and research institutions is a constant proof of this principle, generating innovative and competitive technologies. We are following with great interest the young people’s ability to apply their knowledge in search for solutions to complicated challenges. This is an opportunity to look into the nearest future and observe the mind-set of the society of tomorrow,” says Ingmārs Pūķis, Vice President of LMT.

The Olympiad will include individual competitions in the form of an interactive financial literacy game, tests of knowledge in economics and its practical application, as well as team competitions in developing the best strategy to solve a practical business situation. The tasks for this year’s competition were developed by EY Latvia team of consultants led by Ieva Kozlovska, and seven EY consultants will be the leading members of the jury panel. The jury will award medals for individual achievements, as well as present awards to the three best teams. The participants will also be able to compete for the SEB bank’s Special Award for the most sustainable solution to the given business situation.

“SEB is always ready to support young people in their aspirations to study, develop and achieve more. The youth hold our future, and it is important that by learning and forming their career paths, young people are aware that every decision and choice that they will make could have a major global impact.  Therefore, SEB will award its special prize to the team, which considers the global impact and chooses a sustainable approach to solve the business challenge,” says Kristaps Strazds, Board Member of SEB.

Lectures and virtual tours presented by prominent Latvian and international lecturers will also take place during the Olympiad. President of the Bank of Latvia Mārtiņš Kazāks, EY Baltics Assurance Partner Diāna Krišjāne, Professor Michel Zouboulakis of the University of Thessaly (Greece), economists Rafael Repullo and Manuel Arellano of the Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies (CEMFI) in Spain, as well as other lecturers will read lectures on various topics related to economics and business. The participants of the Olympiad and other interested individuals will have an opportunity to take a virtual tour around the Money World knowledge centre of the Bank of Latvia.

In 2021, the IEO takes place for the fourth time, and the opening and closing ceremonies will be hosted by one of Latvia’s leading business event hosts, Edgars Kuzmans.

The IEO Latvian team will include Andris Dalbiņš and Jēkabs Gritāns (Riga State Gymnasium Nr.1), Valts Vītums-Jaunzems (Engineering High School of Riga Technical University), Roberts Ralfs Vārslavs (Jelgava Spidola Gymnasium) and Emīls Šmits (Eastern Latvia Technology High School). Last year, all members of the Latvian team received individual medals, ranking fourth among the national teams. In 2019, the Latvian team won six medals, but in 2018, Latvians won the first prize, proving to be the best among all teams of the first IEO.

IEO 2021 is supported by SEB and Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), with the financial and intellectual input by the National Centre for Education of Latvia and the Bank of Latvia.