Ainārs Šlesers (born 22 January 1970, Riga) is a Latvian business oligarch and politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia, as well as

Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

of Riga. Currently he is a member of the Latvian Parliament with his political party, Latvia First, holding 9 seats in the parliament. In the 2022 elections, Slesers was the second highest supported politician among the voters.

Business Career

Šlesers started his business in Norway, becoming president of the Latvian Information and Commerce Center in Norway in 1992. Through joint ventures together with

Frank Varner Frank Varner (14 July 1937 – 26 June 2001) was a Norwegian businessman. He established the holding company Varner-Gruppen, which developed into the largest operator in the textile retailing trade in Norway. Biography He was born in Oslo to P ...

and

Stein Erik Hagen Stein Erik Hagen (born 22 July 1956) is a Norwegian businessman. He is chairman of Orkla, where he is a major shareholder, and holds large stakes in Steen & Strøm, Jernia and Komplett through his family company Canica. According to the news ...

, he opened numerous shopping centres as well as real estate and commercial properties in Latvia. During 1994–1998 he was director general at Norwegian retail chain "Varner Baltija" and Director General of "Varner Hakon Invest", both ventures of

Varner-Gruppen Varner-Gruppen AS is a textile firm in Norway with approximately 500 stores around the country, includinBik BokCarlings Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

. The area is expected to house the new Riga RoPax Terminal for passengers and ferries. It is expected to be completed by 2025. Šlesers family also own and manage Riga Commercial Port group (RTO) with former Prime Minister

Andris Šķēle Andris Šķēle (born 16 January 1958) is a Latvian former politician and business oligarch. He served two terms as Prime Minister of Latvia from 21 December 1995 to 7 August 1997, and from 16 July 1999 to 5 May 2000. Early life Šķēle gra ...

. RTO is the leading port company in Latvia, having the largest coal and fertilizer terminals in the Baltics.

Political career

He was the leader of the LPP/LC and a Parliament Deputy of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Saeima. He was also the Minister of Economics in the cabinet of

Vilis Krištopans Vilis Krištopans (born 13 June 1954 in Omsk Oblast, Russian SFSR) is a Latvian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Latvia from 26 November 1998 to 15 July 1999. As a prime minister he was a member of the Latvian Way political party. ...

(1998–1999), Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of

Einars Repše Einars Repše (born 9 December 1961) is a Latvian physicist, financier and politician, chairman of the Association for Latvian Development. Biography Einars Repše graduated from Latvia State University (now known as University of Latvia) in ...

and

Indulis Emsis Indulis Emsis (born 2 January 1952) is a Latvian biologist and politician. He was Prime Minister of Latvia for ten months in 2004, the first Green party, Green politician to lead a country in the history of the world. He was Speaker of the Saeim ...

(2002-2004), Minister of Transport in the cabinet of Indulis Emsis,

Aigars Kalvītis Aigars Kalvītis (born 27 June 1966) is a Latvian businessman and a former politician who was the Prime Minister of Latvia from 2004 to 2007. Currently he is the president of Latvian Ice Hockey Federation and the Chairman of the Board of Latvian ...

and

Ivars Godmanis Ivars Godmanis (born 27 November 1951) is a Latvian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Latvia from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2009. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country restored its independence from t ...

(2004-2009) and Deputy Mayor of Riga in 2009–2010.

Minister of Transport

Šlesers was Minister of Transport and Communications from 2004 to 2009, while also serving as Deputy Prime Minister in Indulis Emsis Government. During these years, he is credited for developing the

Riga International Airport Riga International Airport ( lv, Starptautiskā lidosta "Rīga"; ) is the international airport of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and the largest airport in the Baltic states with direct flights to 76 destinations as of November 2019. It serves as ...

into a regional hub, increasing the number of passengers tenfold. The crucial step in the development of the airport was the agreement between Šlesers and

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

CEO Michael O'Leary about entering the Riga Airport in 2005. At the same time, the Latvian government-owned airline

airBaltic airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its main hub is Riga, and it operates bases in T ...

has steadily become the largest airline in the Baltics. Due to its fast-paced growth, the Riga Airport was included in the EU railway development project,

Rail Baltica Rail Baltica (also known as Rail Baltic in Estonia) is a high-speed railway under construction between Warsaw, Poland and Tallinn, Estonia, with further connections to Finland via Baltic Sea cruiseferries or the proposed Helsinki–Tallinn Tunne ...

. With total investments exceeding 5,8 billion Euros, the project will offer convenient connections to the Baltic Capitals and to Western Europe.

Deputy Riga Mayor

Šlesers took part in the Riga City Council elections in 2009 and received a majority of votes together with the Harmony Party and their leader

Nils Ušakovs Nils Ušakovs (russian: Нил Валерьевич Ушаков, ''Nil Valeryevich Ushakov'') (born 8 June 1976) is a Latvian Russian politician, former mayor of Riga and former journalist. He has been the board chairman of the left-wing party ...

. Ušakovs became Mayor, while Šlesers became Deputy Mayor. Šlesers left office in 2010 after being elected in the parliament.

Latvia First

In July 2021, Šlesers announced his return to politics and that he would be founding a new political party. The "

Latvia First Latvia First ( lv, Latvija pirmajā vietā, LPV) is a right-wing populist political party in Latvia. It was founded in August 2021 by businessman and former member of parliament, former Minister of Transport, former vice-mayor of Riga, Ainārs ...

" party was formally founded on 14 August. In the October 2022 election, Šlesers and his party received 9 out of 100 seats in the parliament, and Slesers was ranked second highest supported politician in the election according to personal votes among voters.

Personal life

He is married to

Inese Šlesere Inese Šlesere (born 2 August 1972 in Riga) is a Latvian politician, former model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the runner-up in the 1999 Mrs. World and a contestant in Miss World 1991 Miss World 1991, the 41st edition of the Mis ...

, former politician, with whom he has five children.

References

External links

Members of the Saeima since 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:Šlesers, Ainar 1970 births Living people Politicians from Riga Businesspeople from Riga New Party (Latvia) politicians Latvia's First Party politicians Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way politicians Latvia First politicians Ministers of Economics of Latvia Transport ministers of Latvia Deputies of the 7th Saeima Deputies of the 8th Saeima Deputies of the 9th Saeima Deputies of the 10th Saeima Deputies of the 14th Saeima Spouses of politicians Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 3rd class