Latvia to have first female PM

Latvian President Andris Berzins on Monday nominated Agriculture Minister Laimdota Straujuma to be the country's first female prime minister, Latvian News Agency reported. Straujuma is to replace Valdis Dombrovskis, who resigned on Nov. 28 after the collapse of a supermarket roof in Riga on Nov. 21 that killed 54 people, the most tragic incident since Latvia gained independence in 1991. Straujuma, upon receiving the nomination, said her government would continue the tight fiscal policies and aim at maintaining stability. Leader of the ruling Unity party Solvita Aboltina described Straujuma as the most experienced minister in the current government, while Dombrovskis said she is capable of ensuring the continuity of the government's work. Straujuma, born in 1951, graduated from the faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Latvia and obtained a doctoral degree in economics in 1992. She became agriculture minister in Dombrovskis' government in 2011.