At meeting for heads of Latvia's diplomatic missions, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins highlights economic dimension [24 Aug 2009]

On 24 August, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins opened a meeting for the heads of Latvia's diplomatic missions. In his address, Foreign Minister Riekstins provided a summary of the general situation in interior and international policies, as well as outlined future priorities for diplomatic work. 

Looking back to the period since the annual meeting of ambassadors in December 2008, Minister Riekstins emphasised that export promotion and the attraction of investments remains one of the priorities for the diplomatic service. In his address, Mr Riekstins expressed gratitude to the ambassadors who had stimulated embassy activities within the economic dimension, organised visits to the regions of the countries of their residence, provided opportunities for concluding new agreements on the exports of Latvian products. At the same time, Minister Riekstins noted that recently he has heard positive references from a number of entrepreneurs regarding the work of Latvia's embassies.

The Foreign Minister also briefed the ambassadors about measures carried out by the Foreign Ministry for the promotion of exports, including a round table discussion with business people. Minister Riekstins also made note of the Foreign Ministry participation in the conference Experience Stories of Latvia's Exports organised by the paper Dienas Bizness, and in launching a series of blogs on the paper's website to raise awareness of embassies as promotion points for Latvian businesses.

As part of the working meeting, a contact exchange for ambassadors and entrepreneurs was held in order to continue with the Ministry's activities in the facilitation of foreign trade.

With regard to foreign policy priorities of Latvia, Minister Riekstins highlighted the following issues: the agenda of the European Union, including the Eastern Partnership and the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty; security policy; transatlantic relations; relations with the Russian Federation.

The participants of the meeting were also addressed by Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis. At the conclusion of the event, a meeting has been planned with President Valdis Zatlers.

Due to the fact that, after holidays, some ambassadors had already returned to their countries of residence, discussions were also held with the help of video conferencing solutions provided by the Ministry information technology specialists and through the Foreign Ministry unified computer network.

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