On Wednesday, 22 May, during her meeting in Seoul with Kang Chang-hee, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, emphasised that Latvia and the Republic of Korea have great potential for economic and political cooperation. Concurrently, Speaker Āboltiņa welcomed the rapidly developing bilateral relations including the 30% increase in trade turnover during 2012, as well as the opening of the embassy of the Republic of Korea in Riga.

On Monday, 20 May, during the opening of the annual Saeima and NGO forum on Stability, Partnership, Development, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, stressed that it is important for non-governmental organisations to give candid feedback to parliamentarians regarding their work in order to continue collaboration and to pursue common goals,  as well as to involve every member of society in the development of our country because non-governmental organisations are a nation’s forum which operates daily.

On Saturday, 18 May, during the five-hour-long Night of Museums more than 4,000 people visited the main building of the Saeima, where they could see the interior of the building and the Plenary Chamber, as well as several exhibitions. The exposition A Green Parliament: The Life of Paper gave an insight into how the use of paper in the parliament has changed over time and how paper is recycled – the process that transforms office waste paper to brand new products. The exposition has been created in cooperation with the Līgatne paper mill.

On Thursday, 16 May, the Saeima considered in the second reading the Draft Law on the Amendments to the Law on Safety during Public Entertainment and Festive Events and supported the proposal to ban the use of USSR and Nazi symbols, including stylised ones, also during public entertainment and festive events. Currently the ban applies only to participants of rallies, marches and pickets.

“Next year Latvia, together with other countries represented here today, will celebrate the tenth anniversary of accession to the European Union. In this decade we have experienced both political and economic upsets, and they have reminded us that the EU is based on values. These values are difficult to strengthen but easy to lose. We must keep this notion, this historical experience, in mind when discussing our place in Europe and the future of the EU,” Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, emphasised in her opening address at the international conference Development Cooperation: The Baltic Response, which took place on 10 May in the main building of the Saeima.

On Thursday, 9 May, the Saeima in the final reading adopted amendments to the Citizenship Law that recognise dual citizenship, set forth the procedure for granting citizenship to children born in Latvia to non-citizens and to children born abroad to Latvian citizens, as well as introduce changes in the naturalisation procedure.

Honourable President of Latvia,

The European Youth Guarantee is more than just a significant tool for curbing unemployment; it is also an opportunity to significantly reduce migration caused by the high level of youth unemployment, said Arvils Ašeradens, Deputy Chairman of the Social and Employment Matters Committee, at a meeting of chairpersons of employment, enterprise, innovation and social affairs committees of the national parliaments of the European Union held in Dublin on Monday, 29 April.

Should health education or politics and law be taught at school as separate mandatory subjects? How to strengthen the feeling among Latvian children and youths currently living abroad that they belong in Latvia? Should the state develop special support programmes for youth enterprises? Should information about advantages and risks related to introduction of the single European currency be disseminated also at schools? These were only some of the questions addressed by the 3rd Youth Parliament on 26 April.

“By using modern tools of communication and efficiently channelling information, parliaments can develop a continuous, open and honest dialogue with society more easily. Social networks and live broadcasts of plenary sittings are needed; however, it is not enough. I am certain that it is important to have direct contact with people, to hear society’s voice, opinions and attitudes towards local and global events,” emphasised Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Monday, 22 April, when addressing other Speakers of the Parliaments of the European Union at their annual Conference.