RIGA, June 16 (LETA) - Ex-president and ex-minister Raimonds Vejonis will also work in the office of Edgars Tavars (United List), Minister of Smart Administration and Regional Development.

As Mudrite Grundule, the minister’s advisor on strategic communications, informed the LETA, Vejonis will serve as a freelance advisor on strategic development and policy issues. Vejonis was a long-time politician with Latvia's Green Party who served as the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development; he was later elected to a single term as the President of Latvia, but in recent years has served as president of the Latvian Basketball Association.

Grundule noted that Vejonis will not receive a salary from the ministry as an external advisor.

The minister has another external advisor on artificial intelligence issues. Evalds Urtans, a board member of the Latvian Artificial Intelligence Association and a senior researcher at the Riga Technical University, has been appointed to this position. This external advisor will not receive a salary.

Also working in the minister’s office are Egita Kazeka, advisor on public administration issues; Ilze Abolina, an advisor on information and communication technology issues; Peteris Dimants, an advisor on regional development issues; and Grundule, an advisor on strategic communication issues.

The minister’s office is headed by Evija Kenina, a former consultant to the United List parliamentary faction, and she is also assisted by Ilze Abolina.

The Ministry’s Parliamentary Secretary is Ainars Mezulis (Latvia's Green Party), a former member of the Smiltene City Council.