Danish and Latvian Economic

The Danish Economy

The Danish economy is small and open, very dependent on trade with other countries and without any possibility of influencing international trading conditions or central economic factors, e.g. interest rates.
The value of both exports and imports constitutes c. 1/3 of GDP. About 2/3 of foreign trade is with other EU countries. Germany is clearly the most important bilateral trading partner, but Sweden and Great Britain, are also of significance. Outside the EU, Denmark trades especially with Norway, the USA and Japan.
On account of the great importance of foreign trade for the domestic economy, Denmark is very keen to deal freely in goods and services with other countries. Consequently, Denmark has joined collaborative organizations such as the EU, OECD and GATT (known as WTO from 1995) and within the framework of these has striven actively to remove obstacles to free trade.

Latvia

After a brief period of independence between the two World Wars, Latvia was annexed by the USSR in 1940. It reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although the last Russian troops left in 1994, the status of the Russian minority (some 30% of the population) remains of concern to Moscow. Latvia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.…