The festive events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Baltic International academy were held warmly and cordially.They started with an anniversry art exhibition of works by friends of the academy, presenting 140 impressive paintings. Then a press conference of BIA members of the Board was held at the European Center. And the central event was the solemn meeting, which was attended by veterans, lecturers and students, graduates and guests of our academy - Latvian and foreign. Among them is the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Timur Primbetov.

The anniversary meeting was opened by the board members of the Baltic International Academy, professors Stanislav Buka and Valery Nikiforov. They reminded that the beginning of the creation of the Baltic International Academy started in 1989, when the concept of the Riga Humanitarian Institute was formulated for the first time. For its implementation, on June 27, 1990, a special Fund of Riga Humanitarian Institute was created.

The initiators of the creation of this fund were the deputies of the Republic of Latvia – Stanislav Buka, Mikhail Gavrilov, Sergey Dimanis, Sergey Zaletaev, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Sovietskaya Molodezh" Alexander Blinov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Delo" Vladimir Gurov, correspondent of the newspaper "Izvestia" Irina Litvinova and others well-known people in Latvia.

Initially, the BIA was called the Baltic Russian Institute (BRI). The definition "Baltic" testified to the international nature of the BIA, and "Russian" reminded of the opportunity to receive European education in Russian. The certificate of registration in the Register of Enterprises of Latvia was issued on November 16, 1992. Since then, the BIA is solemnly celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of the university on this day.

The first document on the birth of the BRI Institute was Order No. 200 dated July 13, 1992 by the rector of the Riga Aviation University – Vladimir Khodakovsky, which stated: "To organize the Baltic Russian Institute as an independent structural unit of the university, which has all the rights of a legal entity that has its own seal and bank account and is fully self-financing." This order was issued on the basis of a decision signed by the then Head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia – Ivars Godmanis. By the same order, Valery Nikiforov was approved as the director of the institute. In 1994 he was elected as the first rector of the BRI.

To the founders of the Baltic Russian Institute, Candidate of Economic Sciences Stanislav Buka and Doctor of Philosophical Sciences Valery Nikiforov had to start everything from the beginning - to create a material and technical base, select academic staff, prepare the first programs for accreditation, recruit the first applicants. And they successfully coped with these tasks.

In a short time, BRI became the largest university in the Baltic States, gained a prestige among students and employers, multiplied its educational and scientific potential, which made it possible to rename Baltic Russian Institute to the Baltic International Academy in 2006. As the founders noted, the friendly and creative team of the university has the right to be proud of its achievements. Over 30 years, under difficult conditions, more than 30 thousand qualified specialists from 46 countries have been trained.

Academy leaders Stanislav Buka and Valery Nikiforov sincerely thanked the academic staff, employees and business partners for their work, loyalty to the Baltic International Academy and presented Golden Badges to the number of veterans and partners of BIA.

This award was given to Vice-Rector for International Relations Inta Buka, Professor Marina Gunare, Director of the Student Café Irina Kudoyar, Director of the LU Academic Library Venta Kocere, Head of the BIA Technical Service Irina Kuzenko, Associate Professor Nadezhda Pazukhina, Head of the Economics and Finance Study Direction, Associate Professor Boris Heimanis, BIA graduate – journalist Abik Elkin.

RAU rector in 1992 Vladimir Khodakovsky, long-term rector of the BIA Arkady Votsis, rector of the Turība Higher School Aldis Baumanis, director of the Law College Talavs Jundzis, director of the LU Academic Library Venta Kotsere, heads of academy branches congratulated the participants of the gathering.

Their performances were well complemented by the musical greetings of the dance groups "NATALY", "LADY", the show group of the Latvian Cultural Center under the direction of Viktor Busygin and the incendiary Italian song by Roberto Melone, a guest from sunny Sardinia.

At the pictures:

1. BIA founders Stanislav Buka and Valery Nikiforov.
2. Arkady Votsish .
3. Awarding veterans and partners of the BIA.
4. Stanislav Buka welcomes the Ambassador of Kazakhstan Timur Primbetov .
5. Valery Nikiforov congratulates Juris Baltgailis with the status of associate professor.
6. Greetings from the heads of BIA branches.
7. Founders of BIA and Aldis Baumanis.
8. Talavs Jundzis .
9. Venta Kocere and Stanislav Buka.
10. Group "NATALIE" performs.
11. Guest from Italy Roberto Meloni .

Photo by Vladimir Starkov and Kristina Lyakhova.