🇱🇻 Letonia

Latvia (ISO code: LV) lies in northern Europe on the Baltic Sea coast and borders Estonia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus. Politically it is a parliamentary republic and a member of the European Union, the eurozone, the Schengen area and NATO. The climate is temperate continental with mild summers and cold winters, partly shaped by maritime influence. Economically Latvia plays a central role as a trade and logistics hub, in particular through the free ports of Riga and Ventspils and the port of Liepaja, which facilitate Baltic Sea trade. Foreign trade is export-oriented, focused on timber, food and machinery products, while energy and raw materials are mostly imported. Latvia has a well-developed road and rail infrastructure and serves as a transit corridor between the EU, Scandinavia and its eastern neighbours. Since EU accession in 2004 and the introduction of the euro in 2014 the country has been fully integrated into the EU single market. As an EU external border with Russia and Belarus, strict customs, sanctions and export controls apply; the former east-west transit has declined sharply, while investments such as Rail Baltica strengthen the link to Central Europe.