Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins notes interest and prospects by Latvia and Belarus to expand co-operation [04 Nov 2009]

On 3 November, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins as part of his working visit to Belarus, met with the higher officials of the country President Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky and Foreign Minister Sergey Martinov and discussed the bilateral relations between both countries, making note of the potential for economic co-operation, as well as topicalities and prospects for the EU-Belarus relations.

Visit by Minister Riekstins is the first visit by a Latvian foreign minister to Belarus since the independence of Latvia was restored. Both foreign ministers, however, met on 22 April this year, during the Belarusian Foreign Minister's visit to Latvia. This time, both ministers discussed progress with issues on which an agreement was achieved earlier in Riga, including the enhancement of the legal framework.

Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins reiterated that the Latvian side was prepared to make efforts to enable the signing, during the first half of 2010, of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on the facilitation of cross-border travel for border residents of the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Belarus.  Minister Riekstins also noted the readiness of the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia to start consultations with their Belarusian colleagues in order to conclude and agreement on expanding co-operation in the field of higher education that would provide possibilities for broader practical co-operation among universities.

During the meeting with the Belarusian Prime Minister Sergey Sidorski, Foreign Minister Riekstins delivered a verbal invitation by the Prime Minister of Latvia to his Belarusian counterpart to come on a visit to Latvia for discussing the topical agenda of economic co-operation. Both sides noted with satisfaction the meeting of the Latvia-Belarus Intergovernmental Commission of 14 October. Besides, Latvian and Belarusian officials also noted a proposal to hold in 2010 in Latvia a regional level investment forum, thus expanding the format of the annual Latvian-Belarusian investment forum by inviting also businessmen from the Baltic and Nordic countries.

In discussions with Belarusian officials, close attention was devoted to also to the EU-Belarus relations, in particular, because during the EU's General Affairs and Foreign Relations Council (GAERC) meeting of 16-17 November this year a debate on Belarus is to be held. Latvian and Belarusian officials also looked at the Eastern Partnership Initiative and practical co-operation on concrete projects enabled by the programme.

At the Belarus State University, Minister Riekstins delivered a lecture entitled "Eastern Partnership as a significant instrument for the development of relations between European Union and Belarus" and met with students from the international relations and business studies programme.  During the meeting with Prorector of the University and with students, Mr Riekstins noted prospective co-operation between Riga Business School and Belarus State University with an aim of jointly setting up a new business school in Minsk and a master's level business administration programme.

Minister Riekstins also met with the representatives from the non-governmental organisation "The Helsinki Committee of Belarus" with whom he discussed the development of the democratisation process in the country.

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