Andris Ozols (born January 30, 1968, in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

) is a Latvian businessman. He was the director of

Investment and Development Agency of Latvia The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) is Latvia's investment promotion agency. It was established in 1993 under the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. Foreign trade LIAA organizes business trips to foreign count ...

(LIAA), a

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

responsible for promoting

investments Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

and business development in

. He served as the director of LIAA from October 2004 to December 2019. He also currently serves as deputy chairman of the board of the

Liepāja Special Economic Zone The Liepaja Special Economic Zone ( Latvian: ''Liepājas SEZ'') is the only special economic zone in the Baltics consisting of a seaport, industrial area and international airport. Liepāja special economic zone was established in 1997 to develop ...

Education

Ozols studied physics and mathematics at the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

and holds a degree in business management from the

School of Business Administration Turība A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of fo ...

Career

Ozols has become notorious as director of LIAA, due to the owner of company

Aerodium Latvia Aerodium Sigulda is a company based in Latvia, which owns and runs the first vertical wind tunnel in Eastern Europe. The wind tunnel is located near Sigulda, the most visited tourist area in Latvia. It is affiliated with Aerodium Technologies, ...

Ivars Beitāns, who publicly accused Ozols of extorting a bribe from Aerodium in order for LIAA to award the contract for preparing the Latvia pavilion in

World Expo 2010 Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the tr ...

. Ozols maintained a counterclaim that Aerodium instead wished to bribe Ozols in order for LIAA not to pursue in court a claim for misappropriation of EU funding in another company of Beitāns -- "Gaisa sporta sertifikācijas centrs". LIAA did afterwards sue "Gaisa sporta sertifikācijas centrs" for misappropriation of EU funds in Latvian courts, but lost the claim in all instances of the courts, the last instance declaring final verdict on October 17, 2018. Over the course of his professional career, Ozols has served as a board member at

Riga International Airport RIX Riga Airport (; ) is the international airport of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and the largest airport in the Baltic states with direct flights to 107 destinations as of September 2024. It serves as a hub for airBaltic, SmartLynx Airlines a ...

and Latvia'
Road Traffic Safety Directorate
. From 1993-1997 he lived in Germany, where he worked in the transport and logistics industry.

Personal life

Ozols was formerly married to

Dana Reizniece-Ozola Dana Reizniece (born November 6, 1981) is a Latvian politician and chess player. She has been managing director of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) since 2021. She also served as minister of Economics (2014–2016) and minister of Fina ...

, a deputy in the Latvian

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the p ...

(Parliament) and champion chess player who holds the title of

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

References

External links

Investment and Development Agency of Latvia website

Ministry of Economics website
Living people Latvian businesspeople 1968 births {{Latvia-bio-stub