Latvia/ 3. Competence, decision-making and administration  

3.3 Inter-ministerial or intergovernmental co-operation

The Ministry of Culture in Latvia is responsible for the art and heritage as well as for art education including higher education in the cultural field. Other ministries are responsible for certain cultural institutions such as the Latvian War Museum which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence and the Museum of Nature which is responsible to the Ministry of the Environment. The Ministry of Culture co-operates with cultural institutions set out in the existing cultural legislation.

The Ministry of Culture works together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues related to international cultural co-operation and with the Ministry of Justice on issues related to copyright legislation. Further inter-ministerial and intergovernmental co-operation is planned within the framework of the "Cultural policy guidelines 2006 – 2015" (see chapter 2.3 and  chapter 3.2 for further details).

Until 1 July 2009, there were 28 employees of the Department of Regional Cultural Policy of the Ministry of Culture working in regions, cities and districts all over Latvia. The Ministry of Culture is cooperating with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and the administration units of the planning regions that have taken over the coordination role for cultural policy on a regional level (see chapter 3.2).

The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Education and Science are responsible for the development of the creative industries. Concerning the development of design policy, the Ministry of Culture is cooperating with the Ministry of the Economy, which coordinates the work of a Design Council (since 2008).

In 2010 the Ministry of Culture took over responsibility for integration from the Ministry of Justice.

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