Latvia on Tuesday decided to withdraw from participation in Expo Milano 2015 universal exhibition in Italy, local media reported.

Ministers took the decision after a long and heated debate during which Economics Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola spoke in favor of the withdrawal.

Reizniece-Ozola said the management of the project had been unprofessional and the ministry had started an in-house inquiry into its failure.

The Foreign Ministry's state secretary, Andrejs Pildegovics, however, defended Latvia's participation in Expo Milano 2015.

He argued that the withdrawal would hurt Latvia's international reputation and complicate cooperation with Italy and Luxembourg in the EU Presidency Trio.

Representatives of Expo 2015, a limited partnership that won the contract to organise Latvia's participation in the world fair, complained that the economics minister had failed to discuss possible solutions to the situation with them. They insisted that the project could still be completed in time and keeping to the original cost estimate.

Transport Minister Anrijs Matiss called on his colleagues to rely on the Economics Ministry's judgement and withdraw from Expo Milano 2015. Welfare Minister Uldis Augulis and Health Minister Guntis Belevics agreed, saying that the funding earmarked for the world fair should be spent on the health sector's needs.

Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma described the withdrawal as an "unpleasant decision" and asked rhetorically: "When will we learn to organize large projects?"

According to the Economics Ministry's estimates, by withdrawing from Expo Milano, Latvia will save about 3.3 million euros (3.73 million U.S. dollars) in 2015 and 160,000 euros in 2016. Last summer, the government allocated 5.725 million euros for the Expo Milano project.

Latvia planned to build an oak-shaped pavilion in Milan, but the tender to build the pavilion ended without a result.

The bids were submitted by two contenders, Latvia's RBS Skals Buvvadiba builder and Italy's Paolo Beltrami S.p.A, both of which were rejected as flawed and too expensive.

Later a proposal was received from Swiss company Adunic AG which offered to build the Latvian pavilion for 3.1 million euros, and in mid-December 2014 the Latvian government approved a 1.6 million euro extra allocation for the project, but the parliamentary committee for budget and finances (taxes) refused to approve the additional financing.

Moreover, too little time was left until the opening of the world fair, giving rise to concerns that the pavilion would not be finished in time.

Expo Milano 2015, the next scheduled Universal Exposition, is due to take place in the Italian city Milan from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2015. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars) Endit

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