The area that was previously known as Livonia and is currently Latvia used to be under German influence “Fratres militiae Christi”, better known as “Knights of the Sword Scabbards” since the XIII century. Russia occupied Latvia and its neighboring regions in the XVIII and XIX centuries but as the Russian Revolution and the First World War devastated the country, Latvia declared independence in November 1918. This period of independence lasted only a short while as the Soviet Union took the country.

Except a brief period of German occupation during the Second World War, Latvia remained Soviet territory until the reforms of Soviet communism, stimulated an independence movement in Latvia followed by the recovery of the country´s independence on 21 August 1991. Since  then Latvia has strengthened relations with the Western countries by joining NATO and the EU in 2004.

69,9% of the Latvians, approximately 1,4 million voted in favor of the integration to the EU in a referendum on 20 September 2003. The accession period began on 1 May 2004.

With the integration to EU, Latvia has achieved its first and main objective of its Forein Policy. The NATO membership in March of the same year consolidated its political and military procedures with the Western countries.

Currently Latvia has embassies in all Nordic and EU countries aswell as in Washington DC, Belarussia, China, Israel, Russia, Turkey, Ucraine, Uzbekistan and has representation in the UN in New York. The diplomatic service of Latvia is relatively young having laid foundations only at the beginning of the 90´s. A considerable number of ambassadors were selected from the Latvian expats resident in the USA, the Great Britain, Denmark, France and Germany.

Being the first of the baltic countries, Latvia joined the World Trade Organization in 1999 and was invited to the Helsinki Summit of the EU countries in December 1999 to initiate its accession negotiations for integration in the beginning of 2000.

In 2003 unemployment remained high at 10,7% however with outlooks of improvement. A rise in domestic consumption along with a rise in investments has helped the prospects. The growth of the GDP in the recent years: 2.8% en 1999, 6.8 % en 2000, 7.9% en 2001, 6.1% en 2002, 7,1 en 2003 y  9% en 2004. The provisional index of inflation for 2003 was at 2.8% (in 1995 at 35.7%). The latest projections indicate the growth rate to drop between 5 or 6 % which continues to be high in relation to other European countries. In addition the  Euro is to be adapted as national currency on 1 January 2007.

Principal industries: (dependent on importation of energy and raw materials) buses, trucks, trains, trams, synthetic fibres, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, farmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles.
Agricultural produce: grains, potatos, vegetables, cattle and pigbreeding, milk, eggs, fish.

The principal imports to Peru are urea, potassium chloride, synthetic fibres and wood. We export to Latvia seed of “tara” only.

Latvia is a constitutional republic. The constitution of 1991 suplements the 1922 law with basic rights and liberties. The legal system is based on civil laws and the government is parliamentary.