the 5th Saeima as a candidate for Latvian Way. In the government of the Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs, he became a Minister of State Reform and Deputy Prime Minister. In August 1994, Gailis was proposed for the office of Prime Minister and on 15 September the Saeima approved the government Gailis had put together. He held the office of Prime Minister until 21 December 1995. He was also elected as a member of parliament in the 6th Saeima, where he did not complete the full term of office. From November 1994 to December 1995, Gailis was Minister of Defence of the Republic of Latvia. In 1995, in the government of Andris Šķēle, he was Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. In 1996, he announced that he was leaving politics: he stepped down from the minister’s position, resigned as a member of parliament and turned to business. Business Gailis became chairman of the board in LLC Māris Gailis and President of LLC Nilda. He was also a Supervisory Council Member of JSC Latvian Shipping Company, JSC Līvānu stikls and SJSC Latvian Post. Until 2003, he was Chairman of the Supervisory Council for JSC Latvijas Gāze and for LLC Latrostrans. Until 2004, he was chairman of the board for LLC Tax Free Shopping. He was also a Council Member for JSC Ventspils nafta. Later, he also became Chairman of the Supervisory Council for the JSC Latvian Shipping Company. He served as chairman of the board for LLC Ziemeļzunds, for LLC Māris Gailis un partneri and for LLC MG nekustamie īpašumi. He was involved in a real property project development, of which the most significant parts were a gypsum factory and Ķīpsala terraced houses, amongst others. In 2011, he established a cloud computing technology company LLC VESet, where he is currently a board member. Public appointments Gailis been the Head of several official state delegations of Latvia, as well as Chairman of the Organising Committee for the visit of US President B. Clinton to Latvia. He was a member of the Executive Committee for the Latvian Olympic Committee (1996–2000), and also served as President of the Latvian Yachtsmen Union from 1996 until 2006 (he is currently the Honorary President of this group). Association Burinieks, Chairman of the Board. Association Žaņa Lipkes memorials, Chairman of the Board. Richard Wagner Society of Riga, Chairman of the Board. Creative