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On 5 February at 4 p.m., in Room 183 of the Foreign Ministry, Normans Penke, Under-Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, will give a briefing about the work accomplished during the first half-year of Latvia's Presidency in the Council of the Baltic Sea states, and about planned activities for the second half of the term. Ministry officials whose work is related to the Latvian Presidency of the CBSS, representatives from member country embassies, co-operation partners and the media are all invited to attend.
Participants will also be informed about the CBSS reform process and the upcoming summit of member country governments to be held in Riga on 3-4 June. One of the principal tasks of the Latvian Presidency is to prepare recommendations for the reform of the CBSS. Currently, at the conclusion of the first stage of the presidency, regional co-operation priorities have been re-defined.
The summit meeting of government leaders will be the most significant event of Latvia's presidency of the CBSS, and will gather together government leaders of 11 member countries. It is expected that they will adopt a decision on the revitalisation of Baltic Sea state co-operation and reform of the CBSS. The aim of the reform is to enhance the efficiency of regional co-operation mechanisms, so as to achieve a more successful identification of common interests and problems of the countries and to find joint solutions for them.
The Latvian Presidency of the CBSS considers the region's competitiveness and sustainable development as the main goals of regional co-operation. This forms the foundation for the main three priorities of the CBSS Latvia Presidency: education, energy and civil security.
The meeting of government leaders will conclude Latvia's Presidency in the CBSS, which started on 1 July 2007 and will end 30 June this year.
Representatives of the media who wish to attend are invited to apply to the Foreign Ministry Press Centre Division by 15.30 on 5 February.
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