Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis has asked his minister of economics to form a task force on reforming Latvia’s system of higher education and making it more competitive on the world stage.

The prime minister on Sept. 7 forwarded a resolution to Economics Minister Artis Kampars and to Education and Science Minister Tatjana Koķe that also asks them to provide Dombrovskis with an update on what reforms are already underway.

The call for a task force comes just five days after former presidents Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and Guntis Ulmanis, along with several educators and researchers, sent Dombrovskis an open letter urging renewed attention to higher education in Latvia. They said the government should not just concentrate on cutting costs in the face of the country’s budget crisis, but has to plan for economic growth and inhabitants’ well-being.

“The further development of Latvia,” they wrote in the letter, “is dependent on such structural changes to higher education and science that would ensure emphasis on achieving results in accordance with Latvia’s strategic needs; a qualitative leap in the international competitiveness of Latvia’s education and science sector; concentration of education, finance and infrastructure resources; and a maximum return from available budget means.”

The government should support the suggestions in the letter and must move quickly to start the process, Dombrovskis said, according to the Cabinet of Ministers press secretary.

Kampars is to lead the task force and Koķe will assist him.

The Liepāja Theater, in an eight-city tour of Latvian communities, is bringing popular Croatian playwright Miro Gavran’s comedy about men to eastern North America, the New York-based cultural organization TILTS has announced.

The play, Viss par vīriešiem (All About Men), features three actors in five different stories, observing men in various stages of life. Under Lithuanian director Rolands Atkočūns, the play saw its Latvian premiere in December 2007. Acting in the roles of the three men will be Egons Dombrovskis, Kaspars Gods and Leons Leščinskis.

The stories begin with a trio of 40-somethings who have to deal with conflict when it is revealed one of them has had affair with another’s wife. The second story is about a father and two sons, one of whom blames his father for his mother’s death. The remaining three stories are about three gay men, three strippers in a nightclub, and the same friends from the first story seen as men in their 80s.

Gavran also wrote All About Women, which the Liepāja Theater also has performed under the direction of Atkočūns.

Performances of Viss par vīriešiem are scheduled:

• Sept. 18 in Massachusetts at 7:30 p.m. in the Trimda Latvian Ev.-Lutheran Church, 58 Irving St., Brookline. The performance is organized by Mākslas Draugi Bostonā. For further information, contact Maija Priede at +1 (781) 329-7491.
• Sept. 19 in New York at 5 p.m. in the Latvian Ev.-Lutheran Church of New York, 4 Riga Lane, Melville. The performance is organized by the Council of Latvian Organizations in New York. For further information, contact Baiba Pinnis at +1 (914) 631-5725.
• Sept. 20 in New Jersey at 2 p.m. at the Latvian Center Priedaine, 1017 Highway 33 East, Freehold. The performance is organized by the Latvian Society of New Jersey. For further information, contact Jānis Students at +1 (732) 836-9750.
• Sept. 22 in Pennsylvania at 2 p.m. in the Philadelphia Society of Free Letts
  (Filadelfijas brīvo latvju biedrībā), 531 N. 7th St., Philadelphia. For further information, contact Uģis Nīgals at +1 (610) 346-8524.
• Sept. 25 in Ohio at 7 p.m. in the United Latvian Ev.-Lutheran Church, 1385 Andrews Ave., Lakewood. The performance is organized by the Latvian Society of Cleveland. For further information, contact Silvija Rutenberga at +1 (440) 205-9367.
• Sept. 27 in Illinois at 3 p.m. in the Latvian House, 4146 N. Elston Ave. Chicago. The event is organized by the Chicago Latvian Association. For further information, contact Armands Birkēns at +1 (773) 282-6510.
• Oct. 1 in Ontario at 7 p.m. in the Latvian Canadian Cultural Centre, 4 Credit Union Drive, Toronto. For further information, contact Arnis Markitants at +1 (416) 225-0911.
• Oct. 3 in Maryland at 7:30 p.m. in the Latvian Ev.-Lutheran Church of Washington, D.C., 400 Hurley Ave., Rockville. The performance is organized by Latvian organizations in the Washington area. For further information, contact Anita Juberte at +1 (301) 869-3127.

The Liepāja Theater also will bring the Lauris Gundars play Tiritomba to western North America in October, TILTS has announced, but details have not yet been revealed.

President Valdis Zatlers has again taken the unusual step of calling a special meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, this time asking Latvian government officials to update him on their planned reforms.

Zatlers has set the meeting for Sept. 15, the president’s press office announced Sept. 2. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and five other ministers are expected at the meeting.

In April, the president called a special meeting in which he asked the prime minister and two other ministers to address government reforms in the face of the global economic crisis, which has hit Latvia particularly hard. Since then, Latvia’s economy has worsened and, under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders, the government has been forced to deeply slash the state budget in an effort to avoid going broke.

Cuts to education and health funding, among others, have resulted in demonstrations. An estimated 200 residents of Bauska blocked traffic Aug. 31 in protest over reorganization of the local hospital, while hundreds of teachers demonstrated Sept. 1 in Rīga across the street from the Cabinet of Ministers building.

The president called the Sept. 15 meeting, according to the press office, because he has heard from people around Latvia that they are not fully informed about what the government is doing.

The agenda for the Sept. 15 meeting includes:

• An update from the Commission of Strategic Analysis (Stratēģiskās analīzes komisija) on the social situation in Latvia. The commission, through surveys and a series of forums hosted around Latvia, has been gathering information on where Latvians see the future of the country.
• An update from Dombrovksis on progress in restructuring government operations. Since last year, some ministries and agencies have been merged or eliminated. Hundreds of government employees have been let go.
• An update from Tatjana Koķe, minister of education and science, on reform of the educational system. Former presidents Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and Guntis Ulmanis on Sept. 2 joined a number of educators and researchers in an open letter to Dombrovskis urging the government to address educational reforms that lead to heightening the country’s competitiveness.
• An update from Baiba Rozentāle, minister of health, on reform of health care. Rozentāle came under fire for her initial reluctance to meet with the protestors in Bauska. The previous health minister, Ivars Eglītis, quit in June, saying he would not be responsible for what happens to medical care in the wake of budget cuts.
• An update from Uldis Augulis, minister of welfare, on efforts to guarantee social security.
• An update from Artis Kampars, minister of economy, on business development and efforts to reduce bureaucractic hurdles.
• An update from Einars Repše, minister of finance, on access to European Union funding.

Although the Cabinet of Ministers meets regularly, according to the Latvian constitution the president is allowed to call extraordinary meetings and determine the agenda.