President of Latvia visited Karolinska Institutet
On 22 June, the Latvian President, Egils Levits, and delegation paid a visit to Karolinska Institutet. The visit was made in connection with an official two-day visit to Sweden.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sweden and Latvia for the first time and 30 years since they were able to be restored. On this occasion, President Levits and his delegation decided to visit Sweden. During the visit, the President met with the King, as well as Prime Minister Stefan Lövfen and Speaker Andreas Norlén in the Swedish Parliament. The delegation also went to Uppsala.
At KI, President Levits was welcomed by Vice-Chancellor, Ole Petter Ottersen, who presented KIs activities, its collaboration with Karolinska University Hospital, and international collaborations with a focus on Latvia. Speeches were also made during the morning meeting by Indriķis Muižnieks, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Latvia.
Other participants included Professor Jonas Bergh, who presented information about cancer research at KI and Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Professor Lars Engstrand, who, among other things, presented information about the rapid development of the capacity for PCR tests for covid-19 that had been set up at the beginning of the pandemic.
The visit ended with the signing of a cooperation agreement between Karolinska Institutet, the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), and the University of Latvia.