Valentina Pop EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Despite slashed budgets and economic woes, Latvia's capital, Riga, is confident of being able to raise the necessary funding for a series of cultural events in 2014, when it is due to become the European capital of culture, its mayor told this website.
"We are obviously affected by the economic crisis, our budget was slashed by 30 percent on the expenditure side and of course the cultural sector is under-financed. But we would like to use this event to gather money for the cultural infrastructure, which will attract more tourists and have a positive impact on our economy," Nils Usakovs, the mayor of Riga told EUobserver on the fringes of a conference marking the 25 anniversary of the so-called European capital of culture scheme.
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http://euobserver.com/9/29755 