173 RESEARCH FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2018, VOLUME 2 PROSPECT POSSIBILITIES OF REMOTE WORK FOR INVOLVEMENT OF LATVIAN DIASPORA’S IN ECONOMY AND BUSINESSES OF LATVIA Maira Leščevica, Ieva Kreituze Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia Maira.lescevica@va.lv Abstract During the last decade a huge number of Latvian citizens have left the country and live abroad, which complicates to a certain extent the chance of easily returning and settling down in Latvia. At the same time, the Latvian entrepreneurs are ultimately demonstrating their desperate need for all kind of workers. Especially it could be seen in sectors like medicine, retail, heavy and light industry. Rapidly growing Diaspora allows to acknowledge that there is a big potential of labour force fowing away from the country, sometimes staying without any work positions for quite a long time. The aim of this article is to fnd evidence that Latvian Diaspora could be involved in the Latvian economy and business by using a new attitude and approach, which should be supported by teleworking. During research the main methods used were content analysis of strategic and planning documents as well as analysis of the best practices in the world and Latvia, with the aim of establishing a model of remote work development and fnding out proposals for a better participation of employees, employers and territory representatives – local governments and state institutions. This article is a part of and supported by the State Research Project EKOSOC-LV, part 5.2.2. The authors express their gratitude to the Institute of Social, Economic and Humanities research of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences. Key words: Latvian diaspora, fexable working, remote work, entrepreneurship, national economy. Introduction One of the main reasons for establishing European Union (EU) was free mobility of labour. The labour movement from Latvia started as simple curiosity after joining the EU to examine and try out living and working conditions abroad. During the last decade many people from Latvia have moved to other EU countries or to other parts of the world trying to fnd economic benefts and more comfortable living conditions. Although there are many other reasons for migration, in this article authors will be looking only at the economic or well- being reasons. The global circulation of high-skill and low-skill labour from poor economies to rich ones and back is opening new possibilities for economic development. The changes are most noticeable in the behaviour of the most skilled workers (Kuznetsov, 2006). There are predictions by media experts that in the long term – by 2030 – there could be 120 thousand vacancies, which will demand imported labour. Normal target would be to try to fll these vacancies with people from Latvia, but not emigrants from other countries. However, previous research has proved that emigration in the long run will threaten the development prospects of Latvian economy, sustainability of social and demographic systems (Buholcs, Goldmanis, & Hazans, 2016). It is possible to compensate this negative effect partially by involving Latvian Diaspora in the development of Latvian economy – promoting and supporting the return of emigrants and using their knowledge obtained to start the entrepreneurship, boost economy, culture, education and other important felds (Buholcs, Goldmanis, & Hazans, 2016). The aim of this article is to fnd out if the Latvian Diaspora can be involved in the Latvian economy and business by applying new attitude and approach which is supported by remote working. During research the main methods used were (1) content analysis of strategic and planning documents to identify the support activities for remigration or involvement, (2) elaboration of the remote work development model and (3) analysis of the best practices in the world and Latvia to fnd out proposals for better participation of employees, employers and territory representatives – local governments and state institutions. Materials and Methods Diaspora representatives are those people who are promoting Latvia in the world, excellent researchers, entrepreneurs and also ordinary people. They and their children are investors in the long-term development of Latvia (Kļava, Līcīte, & Motivāne, 2009). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledges that there are more than 400 000 Latvian Diaspora representatives living, studying and working outside Latvia in different home countries. Latvian Diaspora includes nationals who have left the territory of Latvia during several emigration waves since the end of the 19 th century, including the latest emigrants who still keep in touch with Latvia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also realizes that the biggest Latvian communities are in the UK, the USA, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Norway, Spain and other countries in the world. ECONOMICS DOI: 10.22616/rrd.24.2018.069