Latvian lats standard from its introduction till 1940. On 17 June 1940, Latvia was occupied by the USSR. After the dismantling of the Bank of Latvia and its replacement with the Latvia Republican Office of the Gosbank on 10 October, the Soviet ruble was introduced alongside the lats on 25 November 1940 at par, although the real monetary value of the rouble was about three times lower and thus both wages and prices were gradually raised to devalue the lats from June to November 1940. To lessen the effect of the exodus of goods sent by Soviet occupational personnel to the USSR,
Baltic Development Forum Baltic Development Forum The Baltic Development Forum is an independent think-tank and non-profit high-level and agenda-setting networking organisation with strategic partners and sponsors from large companies, major cities, institutional investors, business associations and academia in the Baltic Sea Region. The network involves more than 8,000 decision-makers from all over the region and beyond. March 2014 former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Lene Espersen replaced the interim Chairwoman, Mrs. Helle Bechgaard as chairwoman of Baltic Development Forum. Until November 2011, Baltic Development Forum was chaired by Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark 1982-1993. Mr. Ellemann-Jensen is co-founder of Baltic