Foreign Ministry Parliamentary Secretary calls on Arab states to relax visa regime for new EU member state nationals

12 Feb 2008


Foreign Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Eriks Zunda at the EU-Arab League ministerial meeting, which took place on 11 and 12 February in Malta, informed participants about the significance Latvia ascribes to cross-cultural dialogue. He also invited Arab states to relax their visa regime for new EU member state nationals, in order to stimulate and promote people-to-people contacts.    

Whilst in Malta, Mr Zunda met with Taieb Fassi Fihri, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Fatma Al-Zahraa Etman, the Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, and Al Mubarak Jasem, the Kuwaiti Ambassador, to discuss current topics important to bilateral relations.      

The agenda of the ministerial meeting included issues on the Middle East region with special attention devoted to the Middle East Peace Process and the situation in Lebanon. During talks on future co-operation between the EU and the Arab League, a suggestion was made to establish a permanent mechanism for this kind of meeting.

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