Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Latvia is eager to give a new impetus to the relations between Belarus and the European Union, Foreign Minister of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics said as he met with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 20 February, BelTA has learned.

“As the country which presides in the European Union in H1, we are interested in further development of the Eastern Partnership initiative. Riga will host the summit. We would like to do our best to give a new impetus to the relations between the European Union and Belarus,” Edgars Rinkevics said.

“We already have concrete ideas. These are the simplification of the visa regime; we are working on the issue. There is a good potential for the political and economic dialogue. As the presiding country, we will do our utmost to apply individual approaches to the relations between the European Union and every state of the Eastern Partnership program. We appreciate the choice of every country, I do not think that we can speak about any intrigues or attempts to engage someone on something here,” the minister said.

“We know and appreciate the course of Belarus. But we believe that we can also have good cooperation in many areas. I can assure you that we will do a lot (the summit in Riga will take place in about three months) to work out an action plan of further cooperation between the European Union and Belarus,” Edgars Rinkevics stressed.

Speaking about the bilateral relations with Belarus, the minister mentioned the fact that the countries are neighbors and are eager to make their relations increasingly vibrant. “We have lots of ideas regarding cooperation in culture, education, economy, environmental protection, agriculture, and other fields. At present our relations are dynamically developing,” Edgars Rinkevics said.