24/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 25 and Friday 26 September, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is to hold the first ever organised civil Society Forum of the Baltic states, in Riga (Latvia). The civil society organisations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia can use this opportunity to exchange best practice with counterpart structures from other member states of the EU, according to a press release issued by the EESC. Iveta Purne, the social affairs minister of Latvia, Vitalijs Gavrilovs, the president of the Employers Confederation of Latvia (LDDK) and Dimitris Dimitriadis, president of the EESC, will open the work. For more information, see: http://www.eesc.europa.eu (G.B./transl.fl)