Setting course for the future

On behalf of the AmCham CSR Working Goup, welcome to our next edition of CSR Report. These semi-annual reports are published regularly to give members the latest update on AmCham’s initiati-ves in the area of CSR. .

By organizing a number of CSR related events including Outlook seminar on cor-porate ethics and transparency and by participation in several conferences, the working group has achieved its intitial goals – to recognize the efforts of mem-bers and encourage other companies and business organizations to act and report on their own initiatives.

At the beginning of 2011 the working group proposed to join forces with other business organizations in Latvia to pro-mote sustainable business practices and raise CSR awareness. .

On February 22 the first ever joint Chamber CSR event gathered 10 Cham-bers and over 90 members to discuss responsible business practices. With this conference, we recognized best practices of our members who shared their expe-rience on how responsible business prac-tices and reporting on CSR may affecttheir competitiveness, reputation and fi-nancial results.

By Liga Smildzina-Bertulsone, Executive Director of AmCham

CSR working group has achieved its intitial goals – to recognize the efforts of members and encourage

other companies and business organizations

to act and report on their own initiatives.

June 2011

REPORTAmCham CSR

I am pleased that in addition to AmCham, nine foreign chambers decided to jointly address the rele- vance of CSR to help build a healthy business environ-ment in Latvia. The support of our partners and high interest levels from members confirmed that there is both an interest and a need from the business community to address these important issues.

with an aim to promote ethics to the broader society. Events have proven po-pular amongst the business community, diplomats, university and high school students. .

Another successful program – movie nights on ethics – since last June has offered five thought provoking movies .

This May the working group elected a new Co-Chair – Ieva Keviesena of Coca-Cola Hellenic Latvia – and re-elected Arjan Tupan as a Co-Chair for the second consecutive year.

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The working group waves goodbye to Laura Mikelsone, Marketing Manager of Cemex, who served as a Co-Chair last year. We cordially thank her for her effor-ts, dedication and engagement as a real CSR ambassador during the past year!

Greed is no longer good

On April 15 Diklu Pils was the venue of the Dikli Forum III, organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). The to-pic of how a social market economy and CSR can help economies cope better with crises was of direct interest for the CSR committee at AmCham, so we were ho-nored to be invited for opening the event with the traditional dinner speech.

First of all, in Western Europe and the US corporate social responsibility has come a long way, and many lessons were lear-ned. Latvia has the great opportunity to take these lessons into account, and leapfrog development into the next stage. For that it is important not to stress the uniqueness of Latvia, but to seek the common ground and not reinvent the wheel. The second lesson from the Dikli Forum was that there are great examples available here in Latvia and the other Baltic States of how you can use CSR as a practical framework to improve your company’s profitability.

Another lesson learned is that transpa-rency is very important. Transparency creates a level playing field, in which companies can thrive. The sustainability indexes are very helpful in this, but there is a lot that lawmakers can do in this respect as well. European Union directi-ves will certainly help, but parliaments have the responsibility to translate these into workable solutions for the respective countries. Input from businesses and the public is key. Transparency also helps consumers make informed choices.

CSR Mentoring Program: Lessons for success

AmCham is in forefront trying to attract attention on CSR related topics by leading by example.

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The main goal for us is to findLatvian companies that excel in CSR and bring them to the spotlight.

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Over the past year the AmCham CSR Working Group has achie-ved a lot. AmCham is in forefront trying to attract attention on CSR related topics by leading by example. I hope that within upcoming year CSR Working Group will continue to generate and

The CSR Working Group has proved this year that we can come up with some great ways of bringing the principles of CSR in the spotlight in Latvia. For the coming year, I hopethat we can extend that by continuing our now popularMovie Nights, finding new events that we can organize as AmCham, but also in cooperation with the other business organizations. I think the main goal for us is to find Latvian companies that excel in CSR and bring them to the spot-light.

Ieva Keviesena, Public Affairs & Communications Manager of Coca-Cola Hellenic

Arjan Tupan, Director of Who Walks the Dog

implement many good ideas. We are ready to build on the success of last year’s great examples such as Movie Nights, Outlook on Corporate Ethics and Transparency and Joint Chambers CSR event. In the meantime we should look forward to engaging mem-bers and other companies even more actively, helping them assess their performance, share best practices and understand what CSR is all about. .

By Arjan Tupan, Who Walks the Dog

Transparency creates a level playing field, in which

companies can thrive. It also helps consumers make informed choices.

How it works?

Tips currently offered by our experts:

Experts will come to your office to provide informal mentoring and practical tips to you and your staff. Any AmCham member in good standing may request a one-hour long private consultation with our CSR experts once a year free of charge. .

How CSR can improve your company’s performance?

Live green and make the planet a better place! Tips for green office, eco driving, green IT

How to increase your business transparency?

Get the word out! Your CSR program in social mediaBy Arjan Tupan, Director of Who walks the Dog and Co-Chair of CSR Committee Arjan Tupan

Laura Mikelsone

Ieva Keviesena

Aris Dreimanis

By Laura Mikelsone, PR and Marketing Manager of Cemex and Co-Chair of CSR Committee

By Ieva Keviesena, Public Affairs & Communication Specialist of Coca-Cola HBC

By Aris Dreimanis, Head of Communications & Marketing of NASDAQ OMX Riga

For the 2nd year participants of the Sus-tainability Index (SI) assessed their non-financial performance in the areas of stra-tegy, market relations, society, the envi-ronment and working environment. Based on sumbitted information, references and data analysis, experts ranked qualified companies in bronze, silver, gold and pla-tinum categories. 50 participants were indexed this year, out of which 31 com-panies qualified for silver and 16 for bronze. 3 companies – Aldaris, Latvija Statoil and SEB – managed to reach the gold level.

Members including CEMEX, Coca-Cola HBC Latvia, Exigen Services Latvia, Nordea Bank Finland Plc Latvia branch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Olympic Casino Latvia and Skrivanek Baltic, ranked in the silver level. .

This June organizers and participants of the Sustainability Index met to discuss the results. AmCham was represented by Ieva Keviesena and Laura Mikelsone, offi-cal representative of both AmCham and FICIL at the Public Council of SI 2011. Coordinator Maija Kale gave an update on the main successes and challenges while Dace Avena, SI Coordinator of 2010, re-ported on expert observations. In an open discussion improvements such as better methodology, setting relevant criteria and training sessions, were suggested.

We believe that respon-sible business goes hand in hand with sustainable business results. We have set ambitious goals not

Our main objective for ta-king part in SI for the se-cond year was to obtain an outside assessment of the company’s sustainability – and it was important to be able to compare it with last

participate in the evaluation was easy as we felt that we can meet most of the eva-luation criteria, with just some evidence gathering required. We also wanted to pro-ve that we can be the first IT development company in Latvia to be regarded as pos-sessing the qualities of a sustainable busi-ness.

We are proud that conti-nuous alignment of our operations with principles of CSR has been accor-dingly valued by experts and our performance app-raisal has been upgraded from bronze to silver cate-gory this year.

Our business to a large extent is built on longterm relationships with our stakeholders and on trust of our customers that we can deliver what we pro-mise. Our decision to

year’s our ranking. We are very pleased to have been placed in the “Bronze” category once again, which we consider a good achievement for a small company. We will, of course, continue to work toward improving processes in order to be able to move up a notch in next year’s assess-ment and, more importantly– to become an even friendlier and convenient partner to our customers, suppliers and staff.

score: whether we have maintained

Sustainability is crucial, as we operate in what is known as a “business of trust”. Our translations are produced by profes-sionals, and customers entrust us with important and confidential material. We must act in a sustainable manner, or else a ruined reputation would put an imme-diate stop to any development or ability to attract new clients in a market that is as small as Latvia’s. We are on the custo-mer’s side!

One of our primary aims is to encourage the long-term growth of our custo-mers, our employees and the society in general. This goal helped us look atourselves from aside and

Determining sustainability is very useful, as participants receive a summary with recommendations for future improve-ment – to attain even better results. We fully concur with what is probably the best-known quotation from the Latvian poet Rainis: “The one who exists is the one who is willing to change.” .

By Ieva Melngaile and Liga Smildzina-Bertulsone, AmCham

Dagnija Stuíçna, Head of Public Rela-tions, Nordea Bank

Aiga Veckalne, Director of Skrivanek Baltic

Zlata Elksnina-Zascirinska, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Director, Exigen Services LatviaPeteris Sliede, Business Development only in the level of Nordea Group, but

also in Latvia to integrate CSR in our bu-siness, values and identity. CSR can be fully embedded only when it is anchored in our core procedures, products and ser-vices. Constructive and critical self-as-sessment is a step toward sustainability, therefore we see the Sustainability Index as a great tool for achieving better results.

We fully concur with the Latvian poet Rainis: “The one who exists is the one who is willing to change.

Responsible business goes hand in hand with sustainable business results

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Are you willing to change?

to evaluate our performance, understand what could be done better or in a different way to improve our performance and com-mon sense.

Sustainability becomes more and more significant in the society, therefore the va-lues should be very clear as they reflect the attitude towards the business environ-ment. We don’t want to be "the shoema-kers without the shoes", so we keep abre-ast of the times to continue being an equal business partner to our clients.

Olympic Casino LatviaGints Pakarklis, Chairman of the Board,

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Our perception of a sustainable business is based on the planning of the future and understanding that one cannot exist on its own. Therefore everyone has to look be-yond – think about the environment, take care of the company’s employees, invest in the public welfare and education – all of which should be identified as important components of the corporate strategy.

People

Coca-Cola joins the UN Global Compact

The road to zero accidents

Health & safety – top priority!

Coca-Cola Hellenic Latvia has joined the United Nations corporate responsibility initiative Global Compact. With this Coca-Cola Hellenic commits to the Com-pact’s Ten Principles contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.

United Nations Global Compact is the world’s largest voluntary initiative with over 8,000 business and non-business participants in 135 countries. .

Coca-Cola Hellenic Latvia along with the other 14 Hellenic group local networks actively supports Global Compact.

Last year Coca-Cola Hellenic Baltic operatio-ns closed with a s ign i f icant health and sa- .

Ethics & Transparency

This spring CEMEX Latvia is engaging all its managers, who work in production or have subordinates that work in produc-tion, in a training program, called LEGA-CY. The program has been globally desig-ned with the aim to engage CEMEX people all around the world in Zero acci-dents culture, demonstrating their critical role as leaders in process of engaging all employees in safe work practices. The training session lasts for two whole days, during which the managers are guided

By Laura Mikelsone, CEMEX Latvia

Laura Miíelsone

AmCham continues to reach out

Laura Mikelsone gave a thorough pre-sentation on AmCham efforts in promo-ting corporate responsibility on March 31 at the Corporate Sustainability Day of SEB Bank. The event was organized to discuss sustainable business practices among SEB managers and employees.

"CSR is not about competing, it's about sharing and exchanging ideas, so that each company wouldn't have to invent a bicycle," told Laura Mikelsone. "In Latvia people often get very confused about the term sustainablility and unfortunately very many businesses and people still associate it purely with philanthropy, which is not the case in our view."

Activities

Personally manage safety every day Know your processes and your people Communicate with your employees Hold yourself & your employees accountable Train and motivate your employees to work safely Apply discipline equitably & consistently Lead by example and actively care

The training includes not only theoretical lectures, but also exercises and debates that involve all the team members, whether individually or in groups. Altogether 6 grou-ps of managers will be trained, summing up to almost 100 people, who will have participated and hopefully left the training with strong belief in zero accidents culture and inspiration to motivate their teams to always choose safe work practices.

has enforced the health and safety activi-ties, implementing several important work health and safety programs in life – from trainings on practical H&S skills, new H&S initiatives to inspections etc. „It is our goal that health and safety becomes part of everyone’s daily work instead of being se-parate programs,” says Ieva Keviesena. „We will continue to improve health and safety in work place to remind our emplo-yees how important it is.”

CSR is not about competing, it's about sharing and exchan-ging ideas.

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Instead of general perception of CSR as a marketing tool, Laura stressed the impor-tance of sharing best practices. "In the current business environment in Latvia we can lead by example by educating lo-cal businesses about CSR. However, the-re shouldn't be double standards and companies should look closely inside themselves to make sure internally they share the same belief in principles they preach out to others. As AmCham we promote best practices of our members and spread it to other chambers and the local business community."

through seven behaviors that are critical for a leader of a team:

fety (H&S) landmark – a full calendar year without work accidents in all three countries – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Along with the group, Baltic operations .

Community supportRacing the planet for Latvian children

Raising awareness for RMHC

The Care Mobile receives a top 50 Invention of the year

On March 12 the friends of RMHC Latvija – Fred Hrenchuk, Chris Robbins & Lisa Biffin – successfully concluded a multi-stage adventure race across the Atacama Desert in Chile. They were doing it with great cause, to support RMHC Latvija. They raised 5982 LVL to support the Care Mobile program, which will cover a full month of operation, including salaries for doctors, all the taxes and gas for the Care Mobile.

In March Who walks the Dog and RMHC Latvia started their partnership. RMHC was looking for a further expansion of communication and community engage-ment, in particular in the social media marketing arena. Who walks the Dog saw an opportunity not only to test and improve social media and communica-tion approaches, but also support RMHC in doing what it does best: providing healthcare to children in Latvia.

On May 18 Hans Enocson, President & CEO of GE Nordic region and Baltic Sta- tes donated the VScan to RMHC Latvia. Revealed in October 2009, the VScan, GE’s handheld ultrasound, made it im-media

tely to Time Magazine’s The 50 Best Inventions of 2009 list. Now this highly advanced piece of technology is part of the arsenal of RMHC Latvija’s Ca-re Mobile. Every year State Children's hospital conducts over 14,000 ultra-sounds. This generous donation of GE will allow the Care Mobile to bring even better care to the children of Latvia.

“Our Care Mobile is a unique tool in im-proving the health and well being of Lat-vian children, traveling to the poorest children in the most remote areas of Lat-

Up to date the Care Mobile has served over 700 children around Latvia in places like Livani, Jaunjelgava, Irlava, Vegi, Aluksne, Ape, Dagda, Ugale, Aglona, Preili, Daugav-pils, Saldus, Bauska, Priekule, Umurga, Suntazi and Riga. As the Care Mobile is on the road several days a week, the number of children visited is constantly increasing.

The partnership kicked off with a strate-gy workshop to determine and record the strategic goals of RMHC. To assess success in social media marketing and communication, a clear set of strategic goals for the organization is needed, so that success of projects and campaigns can be measured in terms of contribution to the organization’s goals.

"Arjan has galvanized our communication effort, and is such an enthusiastic gene-rator of original ideas that I wonder how we were ever able to manage without

In the partnership, Who walks the Dog will provide its services for free, so that RMHC can focus the limited budget on the ope-rations of the Care Mobile.

Increased activity on social networks like facebook, twitter and draugiem are among the projects that Who walks the Dog and RMHC will work together on. But other projects, like a press conferen-ce around the donation by GE Healthcare of a portable ultrasound scanner called VScan, will also be part of the partner-ship.

Our Care Mobile is a unique tool in im-proving the health and well being of Latvian children.

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him," says Jerry Wirth, Chairman of RMHC Latvija. .

via to provide state of the art health-care – for free. The VScan device GE has generously donated will become an im-portant diagnostic tool for our doctors," says Jerry Wirth, Chairman of RMHC Latvija.

Diatom develops a map following the Care Mobile

800 business ideas submitted to Nordea business school

“Give Children Joy” collects 23 555 LVL to help 8 children

Diatom has just developed a map that helps to follow the Care Mobile from any-where in the world.

Diatom Enterprises donates their emplo-yees’ time and efforts to support RMHC Latvija’s operations. Denis Gorshkov, CEO of Diatom takes an active part in overseeing almost every aspect of RMHC operations, in particular the Care Mobile. Employees of Diatom are mainly giving away IT services, but they also assist in performing other tasks related to human resources, public relations, graphic de-sign and others. Last year Diatom contri-buted approximately 200 hours of pro-fessional services to RMHC, while this

Nordea business school is a business support program founded by Nordea and 14 leading business consulting and trai-ning companies in Latvia with an aim to offer know-how and consulting to would-be entrepreneurs in the initial stage of company formation. Having accompli-shed a six-month business support prog-ram, every third graduate of Nordea bu-siness school is about to establish or have already established their own company.

Procter & Gamble together with the foun-dation Ziedot.lv organized a charity cam-paign “Give Children Joy” from January 3 till March 31 with an aim to help ill or disabled children with heavy diagnosis get treatment that is not financed by the state.

“The private initiative in Latvia can be sti-mulated by focused training programs. Nordea business school, which offers “fi-shing rod instead of fish”, stirred huge in-terest. Nearly 2000 applications to 150 vacancies confirmed the interest and the need in a fast obtainable quality business knowledge.” says Kristîne Lomanovska, Head of Nordea Small Corporate Sales. .

“At Diatom we strongly believe that success-ful business is responsible for making sure that the environment and the community where it operates, also benefit from their success,” says Denis Gorshkov, CEO of Diatom.

year they have already worked over 160 man hours on RMHC related projects. .

The campaign collected 23 555 LVL, thus providing eight children with necessary rehabilitation courses – in total for 278 days. For every mom and dad their child is the dearest and the closest one, parents are fighting for their children and looking ways for their treatment and rehabilitation. For 5 years children and parents are sup-ported by the foundation Ziedot.lv in the program “Little hearts”. With the help of this charity campaign the children will go for dolphin therapy courses, horse therapy riding, rehabilitation after operation, and specially tailored physical rehabilitation courses.

For every mom and dad their child is the dearest and parents are fighting for their children and looking ways for their treatment and rehabilitation.

Nearly 2000 applications to 150 vacancies confirmed the interest and the need in a fast obtainable quality business knowledge.

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The Environment Skrivanek lends a hand to Animal Shelter

Members take part in the Big Clean-up

Nordea joins Earth Hour

On this April, Skrivanek Baltic joined for-ces with Restaurant Galerija Istaba to organize a spring-cleaning at the Dzîvnie-ku Draugs Animal Shelter. They cleaned up the animal shelter's grounds, washed

Animal lovers also helped out by donating various items such as old blankets and pillows, dry food, kitty litter and leashes.

Coca-Cola Hellenic Latvia joined the Big Clean-up for the second consecutive year and organized a clean up of the banks of Lake Jugla. Together with the NGO “Tre-pes” and the project “Lend a hand to good work”, Coca-Cola involved youngs-ters as well as other volunteers in the clean-up activities. .

Hauska & Partner decided to test their green thinking by cleaning up Kvadrata grava in Kengarags while Bite Latvija cleaned up surroundings at the TV tower Zakusala, managing to collect 50 bags of waste.

To put the dramatic climate change in the spotlight, Nordea offices all over the globe – in 21 countries – joined the in-ternational campaign Earth Hour. On Saturday 26 March at 8.30 p.m. local time lights went out for an hour in the central office of Nordea at 62 K.Valde-mara street, as well as outdoor light boxes at the customer service units in Riga.

Nordea we strictly stick to “green” opera-tion principles in our daily work, focusing a lot on using the IT and electric energy in an efficient way, reduction of the pa-per consumption volumes and efficient energy usage in heating, ventilation and power systems.”

Dagnija Stuíçna, Head of Public Rela-tions in Nordea says: „This initiative is

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kennels, walked dogs and played with the other animals. In addition, 188 lats were collected to purchase items for the shelter needs, such as special milk for-mula for feeding kittens.

an opportunity to demonstrate our acti-ve involvement and responsibility. At .