U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is marking the 70th anniversary of the Welles Declaration, the document that declared the United States would not recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union.

In a July 20 announcement, Clinton said the anniversary of the declaration reaffirms the strong bond between the U.S. and Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

The Welles Declaration was signed July 23, 1940, by the acting U.S. secretary of state, Sumner Welles. It followed the June 1940 military occupation of the three countries by the Soviet Union. On July 21, a new but undemocratically elected Latvian parliament voted to seek admission into the Soviet Union.

“During these past few days,” the Welles Declaration began, “the devious processes whereunder the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.”

The Baltic states were accepted into the Soviet Union in early August.

The declaration paved the way for other nations not to recognize Soviet power in the Baltics. Estonian historian Eero Medijainen, in an essay in The Baltic Question During the Cold War, suggested that U.S. policy toward the Baltics was lukewarm through the 1920s and 1930s, but changed markedly with the Welles Declaration. Clinton’s announcement, posted on the State Department’s website, noted the importance of the document.

“This milestone document supported the Baltic States as independent republics at a critical moment to ensure their international recognition and facilitate the continued operation of their diplomatic missions during 50 years of occupation,” Clinton said. The Latvian and Lithuanian embassies in Washington, D.C., and the Estonian consulate in New York became the diplomatic missions in exile.

“The Welles Declaration is a testament to our longstanding support of the Baltic states and a tribute to each of our countries’ commitment to the ideals of freedom and democracy,” Clinton added. “As Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania celebrate nearly 20 years of fully restored independence, we honor our Baltic friends as valued NATO allies, strong partners in Europe and on the international stage, and living proof of all that democracy and good governance can achieve.”

The political party Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs), which some observers say will fare well in the upcoming Latvian parliamentary election, has become the first party to file its list of candidates, according to the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

Harmony Centre has put forward 115 candidates—the maximum allowed—in all five election districts (Rīga, Vidzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Kurzeme), commission spokesperson Kristīne Bērziņa said in a press release. The list was submitted July 14, the day filing for election opened.

The Russian-oriented Harmony Centre bills itself as a center-left party. Its leader, Nils Ušakovs, is mayor of Rīga.

The party’s list of candidates, which still has to be reviewed and approved by the election commission, includes 96 men and 19 women. Fifteen of the candidates are incumbents.

In the Rīga district, Harmony Centre’s list is led by the party’s candidate for prime minister, Jānis Urbanovičs, who is chairman of the party’s fraction in the current Saeima. Second and third on the list are Sergejs Dolgopolovs, head of the Rīga city development committee, and Andrejs Klementjevs, a current member of the Saeima, according to a Harmony Centre press release.

Political parties have until Aug. 3 to submit their candidate lists to the Central Election Commission.

The election for the 10th Saeima is scheduled Oct. 2.

Fingerline, a new Latvian company formed in February, is involved in the manufacture of ramps for fingerboards.

Imagine shrinking a skateboard to a size where instead of using one’s feet to ride it, a person uses two fingers to do the usual tricks. Fingerboarding, or the sport where one does these tricks, is an official discipline within the sport of skateboarding. The first Latvian championship in fingerboarding took place in March in Liepāja.

For doing the tricks enthusiasts can either build their own wooden mini-ramps or can purchase them from Fingerline.

Three entrepreneurs, Mareks Sekstello, Valerijs Cīrulis and Ingars Dilāns, took advantage of the downturn in the Latvian economy, locating manufacturers for the wooden ramps, the metal slides and the chroming process, as well as getting a logo design in readiness for displaying their models at the Latvian championships. They were able to get a lot of cooperation and responsiveness from most people they spoke to as the downturn meant that people were very keen to get some work. 

In his youth, Sekstello said, he was a skateboarder. With his friends, he used to construct his own skateboarding ramps on which to do his tricks. But recently he again began to take an interest in what was new in the skateboarding world and realized that fingerboarding might present a business opportunity.

As well as being skateboarders, Sekstello and Cīrulis are also musicians who have written compositions together, while Sekstello and Dilāns are co-owners of a security firm. Each brings different skills to Fingerline with Sekstello and Cīrulis managing the company and being involved on the IT side, Sekstello being the designer, and Cīrulis doing the major running and sharing the duties in the organization of sales, manufacturing and supply. 

They got their models ready and displayed them at the Liepāja Arena during the Latvian Fingerboarding Championships, receiving a great response from the competitors. While the competition was taking place on the championship ramp, all of the other competitors were playing on the Fingerline ramps, attracted by the new styles, the Fingerline owners said. Fingerline made its second appearance at the Ražots Latvijā (Made in Latvia) exhibition on March 25. One of the advantages of the sport is that participants don’t have to be athletes or of any particular age to be involved in fingerboarding.

Research by Fingerline’s owners revealed a company in Germany manufactures and retails fingerboarding ramps, while another in Spain imports ramps from China. Fingerline manufactures everything in Latvia. The company, according to the owners, intends to keep designing new styles to stay ahead of the competition. By producing fingerboarding ramps in Latvia, the company can keep prices lower than the competition. Prices for the ramps range between LVL 5 for a relatively simple model to about LVL 2,000 for complex models designed for local councils and schools.

The three entrepreneurs said they hope the high tax rates on employment in Latvia will be reduced as they see this as an inhibiting factor on their business. They also are waiting to see what the government might do to encourage manufacturing in Latvia. The owners intend to keep reinvesting in new designs. From the experience they have accumulated so far, they said they can get new products out before their competitors. They are interested in attracting new investors for their company and locating distributors or agencies in other countries.

For information about Fingerline’s products see www.fingerline.com.