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On Wednesday, 2 October, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, met with Leonid Kozhara, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and emphasised that Latvia fully supports Ukraine’s striving to develop closer relations with the EU and that Ukraine can count on our support in concluding the Association Agreement with the EU, which might take place within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Summit scheduled to take place in Vilnius in November.
“Despite not having a common border, Latvia has always regarded Ukraine as a close neighbour and a friend. Both countries have undergone changes and now can continue to increase their welfare and mutual cooperation as free and independent states,” said Solvita Āboltiņa upon welcoming the Minister to the Saeima.
Mutual relations are well developed on all levels; however, there is still untapped potential, and Latvia supports strengthening cooperation in politics and economics, as well as culture and education, for example, by increasing the number of Latvian students studying at Ukranian universities and vice versa, said the Speaker. Ukrainian students already constitute the third largest group of foreign students studying in Latvian higher education institutions.
Both public officials shared the opinion that bilateral interparliamentary cooperation groups established in both parliaments are a solid platform for further development of bilateral relations. The Saeima is open to share its reform experience with Ukrainian colleagues by intensifying cooperation between sectoral parliamentary committees and interparliamentary cooperation groups, said Speaker Āboltiņa.
With regard to cooperation in economics, Minister Kozhara indicated that Latvia is among Ukraine’s top ten EU trade partners. Although year-on-year trade turnover has increased by 30%, both parties agreed that cooperation will become closer after the Ukraine–EU Association Agreement enters into force.
Besides parliamentary and economic cooperation, issues relevant to the Ukrainian diaspora in Latvia were addressed. “Ukrainians are the third largest ethnic community living in Latvia, and it is essential for us to ensure that it has possibilities to integrate into our public life, as well as to preserve its culture and to study in their native language. We are proud of being able to provide Ukrainian children an opportunity to study in Ukrainian at the Riga Ukrainian Secondary School,” said the Speaker. The Minister, in turn, indicated that there are approximately 15 million Ukrainians residing abroad; however, there is no other country where a Ukrainian school offers such curricula, uses such teaching methodology and organises so many Ukrainian culture events.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister, on behalf of the Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, extended an invitation to Solvita Āboltiņa to visit Ukraine next year.
Photos from the meeting are available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/saeima/sets/72157636112211555/with/10051335173/
Video from the meeting is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFYJjTGN6Kk
Saeima Press Service