Latvia has been ranked nr. 1 out of 32 countries in the Investment Promotion Agency index as outlined in “The Investment Promotion Playbook 2025” report by Reinvantage, an independent consultancy firm, for the second year in a row. The second place is taken by Estonia, with Lithuania ranked number 5. The findings were presented by Craig Turp-Balazs, Head of Insight and Analysis at Reinvantage and lead author of the report, on Friday, November 14th, in a press conference in Riga, alongside Ieva Jēgere, Director of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA).
The report by Reinvantage has assessed 32 countries across Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, the Baltics, the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Central Asia. The report has been published for 8 years consecutively, and has grown from its initial 23-country cohort to the now-expanded 32 countries.
The methodology is made up of scores across five categories, each weighted according to impact: validity of information (30 points), support and community building (25 points), online presence and ease of use (20 points), innovation and creativity (15 points), and response to current developments (10 points). Latvia achieved a commanding score of 70.83 points out of the available 100 in the study.
“Latvia’s continued dominance demonstrates a fundamental truth about modern investment promotion: investors prefer reliability to razzmatazz. The country achieves the highest score for information validity by treating transparency as a competitive weapon rather than a necessary evil. This straightforward approach consistently outperforms more creative but less reliable alternatives,” Craig Turp-Balazs, Head of Insight and Analysis at Reinvantage
Estonia (68.67 points) and Ukraine (63.50 points) round out the top three, with Ukraine’s third-place finish particularly remarkable given the country’s management of ongoing military conflict. Slovenia (62.50 points) and Lithuania (62.33 points) complete the top five, reinforcing the Baltic region’s dominance in investment promotion excellence.
At the bottom of the rankings, Tajikistan (17.50 points) and Kyrgyzstan (16.33 points) demonstrate comprehensive institutional failures that essentially disqualify these countries from serious investment consideration.
“The gap between excellence and mediocrity in investment promotion has never been wider,” said Turp-Balazs. “Countries like Latvia with populations smaller than Birmingham have built world-class operations, whilst nations with populations exceeding 30 million cannot manage basic website maintenance. This isn’t about resources—it’s about choices.”
Latvia’s nr. 1 rating coincides with a historically high rates of Foreign Direct Investment. “2025 has been a runaway year for LIAA – in the foreign direct investment area we’re set to surpass the 1 billion euro milestone for the first time,” shared LIAA Director Ieva Jēgere. Indeed, the country has announced several major investment projects, such as the investment of 700 million EUR by Fibenol to build a biomaterial processing plant, and 270 million EUR by Rheinmetall to build an ammunition factory.