Starting from 14 September of this year, the office duties of the Chairman of the Competition Council of Latvia are assumed by Juris Gaiķis. The candidacy of Juris Gaiķis for the position of the Chairperson of the Competition Council, proposed by the Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs, was examined and approved in a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on 8 September.
Juris Gaiķis, the Chairman of the Competition Council: “The values of the Competition Council of Latvia, which are the justice, professionalism and development, are the main keystones that I want to stand by while leading the Competition Council. Working on the detection and prevention of significant competition violations and market distortions, we plan to continue to promote free and fair competition understanding of market participants and public administrative bodies, as well as the general public. We will also not forget about the international cooperation, which has been purposefully developed by the Competition Council team so far. And, of course, another setting for me as a Head of the Authority is to strengthen the capacity of the institution, recognizing that every employee is an invaluable gem that allows the institution as a single mechanism to reach the set goals.”
The position of the Chairperson of the Competition Council was vacant since 16 April 2020, when the long-standing head of the authority Skaidrīte Ābrama left the position. On 28 July of this year, the selection competition for the position of the Chairperson of the Competition Council, organised by the State Chancellery, was concluded.
The competition was organised in three rounds, and the candidates nominated in the third round were assessed by analysing their management competences – strategic vision, awareness of the organization values, ability to make decisions and take responsibility, orientation to achieving results and team management. In the references provided, J. Gaiķis was characterised as a targeted, result-oriented manager, who highly values operative and efficient action.
J. Gaiķis holds Master's degree in law sciences, acquired at the University of Latvia. The previous workplace of J. Gaiķis was the State Medical Commission for the Assessment of Health Condition and Working Ability, where he proved his ability to define and turn into action the strategic vision of the authority development, and to implement optimisation of work processes, improvement of the quality of services, as well as creation of employee attraction, motivation and development policy. Before this position, he has worked at the State Revenue Service for 17 years, where he managed the Tax Board for five years, and also held various positions in the Legal Board.