Today, during his official visit to Sweden, President of Latvia Egils Levits came to Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and met with its president, Professor Ole Petter Ottersen.
President Levits witnessed the signing of Memorandum of Cooperation between the University of Latvia (UL) and Karolinska Institute (KI) Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, which will pave the way for joint research and education activities. It will also facilitate exchange of doctoral students and researchers, joint scientific events and conferences and other types of cooperation.
Cooperation between the University of Latvia and Karolinska Institute will lead to better data-driven healthcare in Europe, underlined President Levits in his address to the participants. ‘Joint memorandum, which you have signed today, will further contribute to closer international scientific collaboration in scope of the Million Microbiomes from Humans Project. It gives us the tools for deepening cooperation in the field of cancer research,’ said Egils Levits.
President of Latvia also mentioned that the support of Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Centre is crucial for Latvia to be able to create its own accredited cancer treatment facility by 2027. Latvia has embarked on a comprehensive overhaul of its cancer treatment model, and such cooperation on European level would greatly help to build the appropriate national system, Egils Levits added.
President also emphasised the close Nordic-Baltic cooperation on envisaged strategic and economic projects important for future ambitions and successful development of the whole European Union. Covid-19 pressure on national health systems has also shown the significance of enhanced health cooperation at the European level, said President Levits.
Karolinska Institute is one of the world’s most renowned medical universities. KI and UL Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine have created a working partnership. KI has also had a joint project with Riga Stradiņš University, VACTRAIN. Its objective was stronger capacity of universities for research in smart specialisation areas.