Foreign Minister expresses support for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration

 

Form 31 January to 1 February, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins made an official visit to Ukraine to meet with the state's leaders. The agenda of the meetings included issues of bilateral relations and integration of Ukraine into the EU and NATO.

At the encounter with President Victor Yushchenko, the parties noted the successful bilateral co-operation in economy. Ukraine's movement toward integration into NATO was also discussed. The Foreign Minister expressed support for the NATO Membership Action Plan being assigned to Ukraine, and encouraged the state to maintain its path of reform in defence and security policy.  

Mr Yushchenko repeatedly expressed an invitation for President Valdis Zatlers of Latvia to attend an international energy summit in Ukraine this May.

Continuing his visit to Kiev, Foreign Minister Riekstins met with Volodymyr Ogryzko, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr Riekstins presented his counterpart with a note on approved draft regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia "Regulations on the understanding between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of Ukraine on amendments to the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of Ukraine on Mutual Travel of Citizens". The regulations provide for the issue of long-term visas to Ukrainian citizens free of charge, and for visa free travel to Latvia for bearers of Ukrainian service passports.

In relation to Ukraine's course toward EU and NATO, Mr Riekstins mentioned that Latvia will continue to support Ukraine's objectives of Euro-Atlantic integration. The Foreign Minister expressed Latvia's readiness to assist Ukraine with its own experience in enhancing state governance and entrepreneurship, as well as in strengthening civic society.

Within the framework of the visit, Mr Riekstins also met with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The key issues addressed were maintaining active dialogue between inter-parliamentary co-operation groups and the role of the parliament in the promotion of Euro-Atlantic integration. The Foreign Minister stressed that in this process, attention should be paid to communication with the community and expressed readiness to meet with Ukrainian journalists in Latvia, in order to share the experience of the process of accession to NATO.

At the close of the visit, Mr Riekstins had a discussion with Hryhoriy Nemyria, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, who expressed interest to learn from Latvia's integration experience into Euro-Atlantic organisations. Both parties discussed the Latvian-Ukrainian bilateral agreement base and agreed to continue to consider opportunities for its enhancement.    

The Foreign Minister also congratulated Ukraine on its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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