Jānis Urbanovičs

Jānis Urbanovičs
Personal details
Born	(1959-03-23) 23 March 1959 Rezekne District, Latvia
Political party	Social Democratic Party "Concord"

Jānis Urbanovičs is a Latvian politician. Member of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Saeimas (Latvian Parliament). Leader of the Social Democratic Party "Concord" , in 2005–2010 leader of National Harmony Party. Member of the board of the political block Concord Centre (Saskaņas Centrs).

Jānis Urbanovičs was born on March 23, 1959 in Rēzekne District in Latvia, in a large devoted catholic family of modest means. The Urbanovičs’s family history is closely tied with the history of Latvia: his father fought against fascism in the Red Army, while his uncle was in the Latvian Waffen-SS Legion. During his school years Jānis Urbanovičs worked on different irrigation engineering projects, it shaped his choice of education. In 1982, he graduated from the Latvian Academy of Agriculture as a hydraulic engineer. At the same time, he had mastered the cabinetmaker, which is still his hobby. He had worked as a Chief Engineer leading various construction work.

In 1984, during the early years of Gorbachev’s Perestroika, he decided to become a part of Komsomol, where he quickly gained the position of the first secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol in Soviet Latvia. At this time young people were waiting for changes and Jānis Urbanovičs managed to transform Komsomol into Youth organisation of European type.^[1] Under his direction the organisation held conferences, discussion pannels, training courses, thus helping young people to adapt to the coming global changes. In 1986 he actively participated in the organisation of The Chautauqua Conferences on U.S.-Soviet Relations in Jurmala. The Conference, which brought together many public figures from both countries, became a precursor of the soon to be happening transfer from the fierce confrontation to the cooperation between the two superpowers.^[2]

In 1994, Jānis Urbanovičs became a member of Saeima. It was the first Saeima convocation after the restoration of the independence of Latvia. Since 2005, he has been the head of the Concord Centre political group.^[3] In 2010, he managed to unite the majority Latvian left-wing parties and formed the Social Democratic Party "Concord" becoming its chairman.^[4] Thus, a distinctive social democratic player once more appeared on the Latvian political scene. Today it is the largest party in Latvia, both in terms of the number of members and the number of seats in the parliament.^[5] Since 2009, Social Democratic Party "Concord" has been the party governing the Latvian capital Riga and other cities in Latvia.^[6]

Since 1994, Jānis Urbanovičs has actively participated and later headed parliamentary groups formed for liaising with the CIS and Central Asian countries. He maintains contacts with the elite of those countries and has received awards for strengthening cultural and economic relations, as well as has contributed to the signing of Latvian cooperation agreements with China, Turkey, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Comprehending the necessity of permanent dialogue for the good relationship with Russia and understanding the negative consequences of anti Russian politics that is implemented by Latvian Government, in 1998 Jānis Urbanovičs together with the chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development Igor Yurgen (Russia) became one of the founders of the Baltic Forum.^[7] Over time, this Forum has become a unique dialogue platform in the post-Soviet countries. Within the framework of Baltic’s Forum Urbanovičs published books on culture, history and economics.^[8]

Initiator of the annual Be-La-Rus youth camp, which takes place on the borders of Latvia, Russia and Belarus.^[9]

Plays basketball and is the founder of the “Concord” basketball team.

Married, has three children. Mother tongue is Latvian, also speaks Russian, Polish and Latgalian.

External links

• Saeima website
• Concord Centre website

References