Jānis Urbanovičs

Jānis Urbanovičs is a Latvian politician and a member of the Saeima since 1994. He was the chairman of Harmony from 2010–2014. From 2005–2010 he was chairman of the National Harmony Party.

Urbanovičs was born on 23 March 1959 in Rēzekne District, Latvia, into a large devout catholic family of modest means. The Urbanovičs family history is closely tied with the history of Latvia: his father fought Nazi Germany in the Red Army, while his uncle was in the Latvian Waffen-SS Legion. During his school years Urbanovičs worked on different irrigation engineering projects, shaping his choice of education. In 1982, he graduated from the Latvian Academy of Agriculture as a hydraulic engineer. At the same time, he mastered cabinetmaking, which is still a hobby today. He then worked as a Chief Engineer leading various construction projects.

In 1984, during the early years of Perestroika, he decided to become a part of Komsomol, the communist youth league where he quickly gained the position of the first secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol in the Latvian SSR. At this time young people were demanding change and Urbanovičs managed to transform Komsomol into a European-style youth organisation. Under his direction the organisation held conferences, discussion pannels and training courses, thus helping young people to adapt to the coming global changes. In 1986 he actively participated in the organisation of The Chautauqua Conferences on U.S.-Soviet Relations in Jurmala. The Conferences, which brought together public figures from both countries, became a precursor of the upcoming transformation from fierce confrontation to cooperation between the two superpowers.

In 1994, Urbanovičs became a member of the Saeima. This was the first Saeima since the restoration of Latvian independence. From 2005 was the head of the Harmony Centre electoral alliance. In 2010 he became the chairman of the newly merged Harmony. Today it is the largest party in Latvia, both in terms of the number of members and number of seats in parliament. Since 2009, Harmony has been the governing party in the Latvian capital Riga.

Since 1994, Urbanovičs has participated in parliamentary delegations for liaising with the CIS and Central Asian countries. He maintains contacts with the leaders of those countries and has received awards for strengthening cultural and economic relations. He also contributed to the signing of Latvian cooperation agreements with China, Turkey, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Believing in the necessity of permanent dialogue and good relations with Russia, in 1998 Urbanovičs together with the chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Development Igor Yurgens became one of the founders of the Baltic Forum. Over time, the Forum has become a dialogue platform for post-Soviet states. Within the framework of the Baltic Forum, Urbanovičs has published books on culture, history and economics.

He initiated the annual Be-La-Rus youth camp, which takes place on the borders of Latvia, Russia and Belarus.

He enjoys basketball and is the founder of the Harmony party basketball team.

He is married with three children. His mother tongue is Latvian, while he is also speaks Russian and Polish.