Latvian President Andris Bērziņš met on March 20 with Her Majesty Sylvia, Queen of Sweden, to discuss the bilateral partnership between the two countries, plans for Rīga and Umeå as the European Capitals of Culture in 2014, and the importance of a mentoring programme in which the queen is involved.

Both officials agreed that cultural links between Latvia and Sweden at this time are particularly focused on the important status of European Capital of Culture, as assigned to Rīga and Umeå in 2014. The President called for active co-operation between the two cities and added that he hopes that members of the Swedish royal family will visit Rīga and Latvia during the course of the year.

On Thursday 14 March, at the Metropolitan’s residence of Kiev’s Saint Sofia Cathedral museum complex, Andris Bērziņš, President of Latvia and patron of Rīga’s 2014 European Capital of Culture year, opened an exhibition – What does amber still have in mind? Latvia. Amber. Innovation – during his official visit to Ukraine. This is a unique exhibition, created with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to promote Rīga as a 2014 European Capital of Culture and present one of Latvia’s most accomplished scientific achievements in the form of art.

Scarf with amber fibers
The first such scarf was made just two month ago - the order came from the Chancery of the Latvian President, which was preparing for the visit of the Queen Silvia of Sweden.
In Oder to fulfill this order, we turned to knitwear factory in Ogre (Latvia), because of its technological capabilities. This factory has the highest class textile machines.

With the financial support of the Riga 2014 Foundation and in cooperation with the Art Academy of Latvia and LLC JLU Technologies, within the framework of the project Exposition: from Amber to Amber Fibers, based on the try-out for design sketches, there were developed textile products (tapestries) with exclusive technique of textile pattern design.