Aigars Kalvītis (born 27 June 1966) is a Latvian businessman and a former politician who was the

Prime Minister of Latvia The prime minister of Latvia () is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obtain the support of a p ...

from 2004 to 2007. Currently he is the president of Latvian Ice Hockey Federation and the Chairman of the Board of Latvian gas company Latvijas Gāze. He is the Chairman of the Council of Latvian

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

s company Tet.

Education

In 1984 Kalvītis graduated from Riga Secondary School No. 41. In 1992, he graduated from the Latvian University of Agriculture with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in economics and in 1995 he graduated with a

magister degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from , "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the doctorate; ...

in economics. In the same year he studied in the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Political career

Political activities up to 2004

Kalvītis was one of the founders of People's Party of Latvia in 1997 and was first elected to

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 ...

, the Latvian parliament, in 1998. He served as the minister of agriculture from 1999 to 2000 and the minister of economics from 2000 to 2002. Kalvītis was reelected to

and became the leader of the parliamentary faction of the People's Party in 2002.

Prime minister

On 2 December 2004, he became the Prime Minister of Latvia. He was the prime minister of Latvia until his resignation on 5 December 2007.

Kalvītis government

Kalvītis at first led a coalition government consisting of his own People's Party, the

New Era Party The New Era Party (, JL) was a centre-right political party in Latvia. Founded in 2002, the party merged with Civic Union and Society for Other Politics to form Unity in 2011. New Era was a member of the European People's Party (EPP), and ...

, the Union of Greens and Farmers and the

Latvia's First Party The Latvia's First Party () was a socially conservative, Christian-democratic right-wing political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007. It was founded on 25 May 2002, led by Ēriks J ...

. In April 2006, the

left the government and Kalvītis led a minority coalition government consisting of the other three parties. His governing coalition retained power in the 7 October 2006

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

, winning a slight majority of seats and becoming the first government since Latvian independence in 1991 to be re-elected. It consisted of the People's Party, Union of Greens and Farmers, the Latvia First/Latvian Way Party, and

For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (, abbreviated to TB/LNNK) was a free-market, national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance (Latvia), National Alliance. The party was founded from sm ...

was added after the 2006 elections, and strengthened the coalition's majority to 59 of the 100 seats. Meanwhile, the People's Party became the largest party in Parliament. Kalvītis became its chairman.

Retirement from politics

On 7 November 2007, Kalvītis announced that he would step down as prime minister on 5 December, after encountering widespread opposition to his dismissal of the head of the anti-corruption bureau, Aleksejs Loskutovs, in the previous month. He accordingly met with President Valdis Zatlers on 5 December and announced his resignation, along with that of his government. According to Kalvītis, speaking on television on the same day, this was necessary to "cool down hot heads". Kalvītis remained in office in a caretaker capacity until the appointment of his successor Ivars Godmanis. He decided to leave politics altogether on 1 April 2009, by putting down his member of Saeima mandate.

Business career

From 1992 to 1998, he was a manager and Chairman of the Board of various agriculture related businesses. And after his political career he has been Chairman of the Council of various well-known companies like Tet (2009), Latvijas Balzams (2009–2015), and Chairman of the Board of enterprises like Hockey Club

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

(2010–2015), the operator of Latvian LNG infrastructure Conexus Baltic Grid (2017) and Latvijas Gāze (2015). He became the president of the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation in October 2016, to succeed Kirovs Lipmans.

Personal life

His wife is Kristīne Kalvīte. He has three sons Kārlis, Roberts and Rūdolfs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalvitis, Aigars 1966 births Living people Businesspeople from Riga People's Party (Latvia) politicians Prime ministers of Latvia Ministers of economics of Latvia Ministers of agriculture of Latvia Deputies of the 7th Saeima Deputies of the 8th Saeima Deputies of the 9th Saeima Latvian ice hockey people Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies alumni Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class Politicians from Riga