A corporal in the Latvian armed forces has been injured in a traffic accident near Kirkuk, Iraq. He is the first soldier from the small Latvian contigent to be hurt while serving in Iraq.

The corporal was injured Aug. 10 on a military base at Kirkuk, according to an announcement from the Latvian Ministry of Defense in Rīga. The injuries were described as slight.

The soldier was treated for his injuries and then transferred to the 47th Combat Support Hospital in Kuwait. He was expected to return to Latvia on Aug. 18.

The traffic accident is under investigation.

A total of 38 Latvian troops, including six unexploded munitions experts, were deployed to Iraq in May. Another 105, mostly infantry, were deployed this month, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The Swedish construction company Skanska has sold its operations in Latvia as part of a move to leave what its board of directors has called a “peripheral” market.

Skanska announced Aug. 15 that its Latvian division, Skanska Konstrukcija SIA, has been purchased by Panevezio Keliai AB, a Lithuanian construction company that also bought Skanska’s operations in Lithuania. The Rīga-based Skanska Konstrukcija, which has 29 employees, reported sales of EUR 2.3 million in 2002, according to Skanska.

The sale is the result of a strategic review announced early this year. Skanska’s board wants the company to refocus its efforts in markets in which it is a major player. Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary were deemed “peripheral” markets for Skanska.

In Latvia, Skanska’s best-known construction project was Valdemāra Centrs, an 8,300-square-meter Class A office and retail development in downtown Rīga completed in 1998 for about USD 20 million in a joint venture with the Rīga City Council. During the summer, the project was sold to Marr Estates B.V., a firm registered in Holland, for about USD 13 million.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which helped finance the project, at one point termed Valdemāra Centrs the “first international-standard business centre in the Baltics.”

Skanska also has sold two residential properties, with a total of 48 apartments, to local Latvian investors for USD 6.08 million.

“Through these transactions, we are following our strategy and exiting the Latvian market,” Fredrik Wirdenius, president of Skanska Project Development Europe, said in a press release from the company. “At the same time, the sales enable a continued focus on commercial project development in our selected Central European markets – Prague, Budapest and Warsaw.”

Skanska was involved with a number of other projects in Latvia, including the Stockholm School of Economics and Astrīdes House.

A new ambassador to the European Union has been named by Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, according to the president’s press office in Rīga.

Andris Ķesteris takes over from Andris Piebalgs. Ķesteris previously served as deputy state secretary in the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also a head of the Latvian delegation to EU.

In an Aug. 14 meeting during which the new ambassador was accredited, the president and Ķesteris stressed the need for Latvian political leaders to consolidate pro-EU efforts before the Sept. 20 referendum on joining the European Union.

The ambassador is stationed in Brussels, headquarters for the EU.