On Friday, 10 November, parliamentarians from the Baltic States called on Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to strengthen their strategic partnership in foreign policy, security and defence. Concluding the 36th session of the Baltic Assembly (BA) in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the MPs emphasised the strategic partnership as the priority of cooperation of the parliaments of the Baltic States next year.

Latvia and Romania should continue to join forces to enhance NATO’s forward presence in the region, both in the east and south-east of the Alliance. Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, stressed this on Tuesday, 24 October, at the Saeima, during a meeting with Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, President of the Senate of the Romanian Parliament, who is in Latvia on an official visit.

Vietnam is already Latvia's most significant economic partner in South Asia. Now that the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement is signed, new mutual business opportunities will help to expand the trade potential. Speaker Ināra Mūrniece stressed this on Friday, 20 October, at the Saeima, during a meeting with Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, who is in Latvia on an official visit.

The main value in international law are human beings, their inviolable honour and dignity. The protection of this and other European values is intrinsically related to the quality of the decisions adopted by the European Court of Human Rights stemming from the professional capacity of its judges. Inese Lībiņa-Egnere,Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and Head of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), stressed this on Friday, 20 October, at the Saeima, when opening a meeting of the PACE Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights.

On Thursday, 12 October, the Saeima adopted in the final reading the Social Entrepreneurship Law, which aims to create a favourable environment for social entrepreneurship.

“Latvia is interested in close cooperation with Belarus in the areas of transit and logistics. The Great Stone industrial park project implemented by Belarus and China is a great opportunity to foster such cooperation,” emphasised Gundars Daudze, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, during the meeting with Belarusian Transport and Communications Minister Anatoly Sivak in Minsk on Thursday, 4 October.

On Thursday, 21 September, the Saeima conceptually supported the draft law aimed at ratifying the Protocol that would amend the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Protocol provides for the improvement of the legislative framework in order to quicken the handling of complaints at the European Court of Human Rights, thus ensuring that Latvians also have their allegations of human rights violations reviewed faster.

On Wednesday, 13 September Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, hosted a meeting with George J. Furey, Speaker of the Senate of Canada. Speaker Mūrniece emphasised that Canada is an exceptionally strong ally in strengthening the region’s security and pointed out that bilateral cooperation between Canada and Latvia in other areas – such as economy, education and culture – has also been developing successfully. 

On Monday, 11 September, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, met at the Latvian Parliament with Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, Speaker of the Knesset of the State of Israel. During the meeting, Speaker Mūrniece emphasised that this visit serves as an impetus for closer cooperation between Latvia and Israel, including at the level of legislatures.