On 19 February 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayashi, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference held in Germany.
The Ministers exchanged views on bilateral relations, characterising them as friendly and dynamic. Edgars Rinkēvičs underlined the importance of the Three Seas Initiative Summit to be held later this year. Latvia, being the host country of the summit, also hopes for the participation of a high-level representative from Japan in the event. Further on, the Minister informed his Japanese counterpart about Latvia’s interest in taking part in EXPO 2025 in Osaka.
Edgars Rinkēvičs presented to his colleague Latvia’s perspective of developments in the region. He observed that an actual possibility of an armed conflict currently existed in Europe. Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine will have global repercussions, and the entire rules-based international order will be affected, Edgars Rinkēvičs asserted.
The Latvian Foreign Minister emphasised that the international community ought to send strong deterrence signals as well as keep calling on Russia to deescalate the situation and seek a solution to the conflict through negotiations. Edgars Rinkēvičs thanked Japan for its constructive involvement in sending unified messages to Russia. The two Ministers were in agreement that it was vital to support Ukraine including practical assistance to the strengthening of Ukraine’s resilience and defence capabilities and the stabilisation of its economy.