On Wednesday, 12 February, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima met with Sarah Cowley, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Latvia. During the meeting, bilateral relations between the UK and Latvia, as well as issues related to the future of the European Union (EU), were discussed.

“The Foreign Affairs Committee has a tradition of meeting with the foreign diplomatic representatives to Latvia; therefore, today the members of the Committee met with the Ambassador of the UK, whose term in office began last year,” informed Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

At the meeting both parties agreed that bilateral relations between the UK and Latvia are developing successfully. Ambassador Cowley emphasised defence and security, including cybersecurity, as important areas of cooperation. Furthermore, as a symbolic testament to the good bilateral relations between the two countries, the Ambassador mentioned the fact that the knowledge of the British about Latvia has improved thanks to Riga’s becoming the European Capital of Culture and Latvia’s upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU at the beginning of 2015.

During the meeting, the Ambassador informed the MPs that the future of the EU and the UK’s place in it, as well as the need to raise public awareness about the positive aspects of the UK’s being a full-fledged member of the EU, are currently very topical issues in the UK.

The upcoming NATO summit in the UK and its agenda, which includes the issue of the situation in Afghanistan, was also discussed.


Saeima Press Service