Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus V.Makei pays a working visit to Latvia

20-07-2018

On July 19-20, 2018 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, paid a working visit to the Republic of Latvia.

V.Makei held talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics. The Heads of Foreign Ministries noted with satisfaction the prolongation of the tradition of holding annual meetings in Riga and Minsk by turns. The parties underlined the absence of problems in the relations between Belarus and Latvia.

Special attention was paid to the development of cooperation in trade and economic sphere. The sides highlighted the importance of preservation and enhancement of the dynamics of contacts between sectoral Ministries, including between the Ministries of Defense and Law Enforcement Agencies. V.Makei outlined the stance of Belarus on the main issues on the regional and international agenda. The parties exchanged views on sensitive issues in relations between Belarus and the European Union. The sides also discussed interaction with NAT O.E. Rinkevics informed about the results of the NATO summit held in Brussels on July 11-12. V.Makei outlined the position of Belarus regarding the intensification of  NATO activities in neighboring countries. The importance of ensuring transparency in the military sphere aimed at strengthening stability and security was emphasized.

During the talks with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, Maris Kucinskis, the sides discussed the implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of the Head of the Latvian government to the Republic of Belarus in February 2018. V.Makei informed about the completion of the coordination procedure by exchange of diplomatic notes of the Action Plan of the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Republic of Latvia on the main areas of cooperation for the medium term that covers various areas of bilateral interaction, including economy and trade, industry, ecology and nature management, regional cooperation, tourism, science.

The importance of developing practical measures to implement the plan during the next meeting of the Belarusian-Latvian intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, scheduled for September 6, 2018 in Riga, was noted. As a promising area of work, the sphere of information and communication technologies has been singled out. The measures on the more active realization of the potential of cooperation in the transport and logistics sphere, including using the capabilities of the industrial park “Great Stone”, were discussed.

The Belarusian Foreign Minister held talks with the Deputy Chair of the Saeima of Latvia, Gundars Daudze. The great importance of consecutive activation and increase of the level of contacts between the Parliaments of the two countries for the development of bilateral relations was noted. The importance of regular interaction at the level of Chairs of the Parliamentary Commissions on security, international affairs, and economy was underlined. 

During the visit, the Belarusian Foreign Minister visited the National Library of Latvia, where he handed over to the “People's Bookshelf” of the library the book of one of the founders of the Belarusian children's literature Yanka Maur, who was born 135 years ago in the Latvian city of Liepaja,. V.Makei visited the fund of rare books related to Belarus, got acquainted with the exhibition of Latvian national costumes dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of independence of Latvia. The Minister noted the importance of continuing the interaction between the national libraries of the two countries that make a significant contribution to the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of culture.

V.Makei visited a number of Latvian enterprises engaged in the construction of integrated production facilities and real estate, maintenance of aviation equipment, information and communication technologies. The Foreign Minister of Belarus got acquainted with the activities of the companies, discussed the prospects for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation.

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