Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins, on behalf of the Government of Latvia, have sent a letter of condolence to President and Prime Minister of France, François Fillon, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, over the violent windstorm that struck Western Europe, claiming the lives of more than 50 people.
On 2 March, the Ministry of Foreign affairs hosted a visit by a group of students from the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. The students met with diplomats and got acquainted with the ministry work.
On 4 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins will receive Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Latvia, Detlef Weigel, as part of his farewell visits.
On 4 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Latvia, Detlef Weigel, as part of his farewell visits.
Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins will attend the Informal Meeting of the European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers, to be held in Cordoba, Spain, on 5–6 March.
On March 6 Iceland held a referendum on the bill of state guarantees for repayment of bank deposits of the bankrupt Icesave bank in the total amount of 3.8 billion EUR for the United Kingdom and Netherlands. Preliminary results indicate that the Icelandic people with an overwhelming majority of votes have rejected the bill.
Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins, on behalf of the Government of Latvia, have sent a letter of condolence to Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu, over the violent earthquake in Turkey that has claimed the lives of dozens of people.
On 5–6 March Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins took part in the Informal Meeting of the European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers in Cordoba, Spain.
On 10 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins will be on an official visit to Estonia where he will meet with senior state officials in order to discuss the enhancement of co-operation between the countries both in the bilateral and regional formats.
On 10 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins, during his official visit to Estonia presented his Estonian colleague Urmas Paet with the first advance copy of the new disk in English by BrainStorm group, "Years and Seconds", to be released simultaneously in all Baltic states only on Monday, 15 March.
On 10 March, during an official visit to Estonia, Foreign minister Maris Riekstins met with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. During their discussion, particular attention was devoted to the economic dimension as well as to the plans for introducing the euro in Latvia and in Estonia.
On 10 March, as part of his official visit to Estonia, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins met with his colleague Urmas Paet to discuss co-operation between the two countries both at the bilateral and regional level.
Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins has sent a letter of congratulations to the Foreign Minister of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis on the occasion of the 20th anniversary since the restoration of Lithuania's independence.
On 12 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins met with the forthcoming Ambassador of Poland to the Republic of Latvia, Jerzy Marek Nowakowski, in order to discuss bilateral relations between both countries and the current developments in the European Union.
On March 12 in Riga, a meeting is held for EU Directors General from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Poland.
Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins has urged the Latvian government in cooperation with the private sector to consider increasing Latvia's involvement in the efforts by the international community to support the recovery of Haiti, after a devastating earthquake struck this Caribbean island.
In response to the questions from the media about his point of view on the recent opinions voiced by Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre office in Israel, regarding the 16 March events in Latvia, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins noted that any attempts to characterise the commemoration of fallen soldiers as the glorification of nazism are absolutely inadequate and unacceptable.
In response to the questions from the media about his point of view on the recent opinions voiced by Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre office in Israel, regarding the 16 March events in Latvia, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins noted that any attempts to characterise the commemoration of fallen soldiers as the glorification of nazism are absolutely inadequate and unacceptable.
March 19 in Riga saw the signing of the Partnership Delegation Agreement between the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia.
On 19 March, the Ambassador of Latvia to the Kingdom of Swden presented her credentials to H.M. Carl XVI Gustav, King of Sweden.
On 31 March at 11 a.m. in the Press Conference Room, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold a seminar – press conference to update tourism sector companies and the press on the latest changes in procedures for issuing Schengen visas after Europe's new Visa Code becomes applicable.
On 23 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins will meet with representatives from the group of experts on NATO's new Strategic Concept, Marie Gervais-Vidricaire (Canada), Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz (Germany) and Aivis Ronis who take part in drafting recommendations for the concept.
On 20-21 March, as part of political consultations, the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andris Teikmanis visited Shanghai, where he met with Deputy Secretary General of the city of Shanghai.
On 22 March in Seoul, the first political consultations were held between the Foreign Ministries of Latvia and Korea.
On 22 March in Brussels, at the meeting of General Affairs Council and External Affairs Council, Latvia was represented by the Ambassador of the Permanent Representation of Latvia to the European Union, Normunds Popens.
On 23 March, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins met with representatives from the group of experts on NATO's new Strategic Concept, Marie Gervais-Vidricaire (Canada), Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz (Germany), and Aivis Ronis who represents the Baltic states.
On March 26-27, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins takes part at Brussels Forum 2010 in Belgium.
On 26 March, a meeting of Heads of Protocol of the Baltic and Nordic countries is being held in Riga where the Head of State Protocol, Aivars Groza, meets with his counterparts from Estonia, Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.
