On March 11, 2010, Latvian Chamber Board Members Juris Lazdins and Gustav Plato traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Gerald Connolly, who represents Virginia's 11th Congressional District.  The 11th District encompasses Fairfax County, Prince William County, and Fairfax City in Northern Virginia.
Congressman Connolly is the former Chairperson of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (in that position he was responsible for a budget of $4.5 billion) and was the chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission.  The Latvian Chamber is currently headquartered at the NVRC offices in Northern Virginia.  Mark Gibb, Executive Director of NVRC, who worked together with Congressman Connolly for many years also attended the meeting as did Congressman Connolly's international relations staff.
Congressman Connolly traveled to the Baltic Region (Latvia and Lithuania) prior to joining Congress in 2008.  He traveled with a group representing Northern Virginia to share best practices in advancing regional economic development solutions.  He continues to be a strong proponent of US and Baltic trade and speaks highly of the passion and friendly nature of the Baltic peoples.
As a first term congressman he serves on the House Budget Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  In addition, he is the member of two Foreign Affairs Subcommittees.
The Chamber and NVRC will both be traveling to Latvia in May/June of 2010.  The program details are being worked out.  However, this coincides with the NVRC trip to Vilnius and Riga for Metrex (The Network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas). 
The LatCham Board envisions several follow on coordination meetings to plan the trip to Latvia.  LatCham will coordinate with NVRC, other Virginia government representatives, and also with LatCham member firms.  In addition, LatCham will coordinate with corresponding government, associations, and businesses in Latvia.  This cooperation is integral to developing strong economic/business linkages between Northern Virginia and Latvia and the Baltic Region.  The concept of regional cooperation will be a model that can be then replicated in other parts of the US as catalysts to promote US-Latvian trade and economic development.