Eric Kalnins had the honor of meeting Latvian President Egils Levits and First Lady Andra during Honorary Consul meetings in Riga, Latvia in July 2022. Latvia has donated one-third of its own defense budget to Ukraine and is currently taking in 1,000 Ukrainian refugees per day.


Eric Kalnins served as the panel moderator for the presentation on “European Technology Startups,” at the annual Spotlight Latvia event in Los Angeles, CA on April 1st, 2022. Spotlight Latvia Los Angeles is a business conference, organized by the Latvian American Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry of Latvia, the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia and the American Latvian Association.

Eric Kalnins attended the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) art fair at the Chicago Athletic Association on September 19th, 2019. The fair featured Latvian artist Visvaldis Ziediņš works. Alise Careva features his work at her gallery, careva, in the Old Town in Latvia. She traveled to share these pieces in Chicago.

Visvaldis Ziediņš original work.






On April 15, 2019, the reception honoring the installment of Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia – Illinois was held in Chicago, IL. Some of the honorable guests include Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia, Andris Teikmanis and Senator of Illinois, Dick Durbin.
Senator Dick Durbin, Ambassador Andris Teikmanis and Honorary Consul Eric Kalnins spoke at the event. See the speeches below.