“The joint visit of the Nordic and Baltic(NB8) speakers to China not only promotes cooperation between China and the Nordic-Baltic region, but also advances the Latvia-China bilateral ties”, stressed Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, while meeting Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, together with other speakers of NB8 countries in Beijing.

On Friday, 15 December, Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, met at the Saeima with Eduard Sharamazanov, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. Lībiņa-Egnere noted that 2017 is a symbolic year in the Latvian-Armenian cooperation as it marks the 25th anniversary since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries. “This is a good time to look back on what has been achieved so far and energise our parliamentary cooperation. It plays a special role in the context of strengthening political dialogue and sharing experiences,” Deputy Speaker Lībiņa-Egnere told her Armenian counterpart.

“Ukraine can always count on Latvia’s support. We will continue to offer our help to Ukraine on its road to reform,” Speaker Ināra Mūrniece underlined on Wednesday, 13 December, welcoming to the Saeima Andriy Parubiy, Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament.

On Monday, 4 December, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, met with Andrian Candu, President of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, who is in Latvia on an official visit. During the meeting, Speaker Mūrniece noted that the implementation of the reform plan is a prerequisite for deepening Moldova’s relations with the European Union.

Members of the Saeima are in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, attending an event aimed at assessing the results of the recent Eastern Partnership summit. During the event, the Latvian representatives stressed the importance of close cooperation, support and honest communication for Eastern Partnership countries, noting that such a focus paves the way to ever closer integration with the European Union for the partner countries. 

“As long we exist, as long as we breathe, as long as we want it, Latvia will go on. For this to be true, we need the support of each and every Latvian who maintains this will”. Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, said this on Saturday, 18 November, when addressing the audience of the celebratory Saeima sitting in honour of the 99th anniversary of the proclamation of independence of the Republic of Latvia.

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.