Raimonds Vējonis also confirmed that the Latvian-Ukrainian bilateral relations could be expanded and strengthened even more, which were characterized historically by close cooperation, support, and partnership.
The President of Latvia emphasized that Latvia strongly advocated territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and it would continue to condemn the illicit annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia. “I would like to remind a historical fact that the principal non-acceptance policy that the majority of international community followed as regards annexation of the Baltic States really contributed to restoration of independence of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania,” said the President of Latvia. He reiterated that the possible revision of the EU sanctions against Russia would only be possible when the Minsk agreement was met in full, including removal of all foreign military formations, military equipment, and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine. P.Poroshenko also regretted that the Minsk agreement was not fulfilled at an appropriate level, because, although some improvement was observed, the political dialogue with Russia was lacking on the issue of hostage exchanges and organization of the local elections.
During the meeting between the delegations of both countries, the President of Latvia pointed to the Latvia’s strong support for further European integration of Ukraine, and he congratulated welcomed the recent local elections, by expressing his hope that in the cities where elections were planned, but did not happen for various reasons, they could be organized as soon as possible. The President of Ukraine emphasized that a single EU stance and international solidarity were crucial for the country currently, which were also felt in such practical aspects like purchase prices for gas, which decreased significantly since Russia was not the only supplier of gas anymore and reverse supply from Europe was already possible.
The President of Ukraine expressed his gratitude for the visit of Latvian delegation, by emphasizing its symbolic importance: “We consider Latvia not only as very good friends, but also as advocates of Ukrainian stance in the EU, and to that end the Latvian Presidency in the Council of the EU in solving the Eastern Partnership issues was an extremely important step in strengthening of our relations”. P.Poroshenko also welcomed the Latvian supportive stance on the issue of visa liberalization and he reminded that Latvia was one of the first countries that signed the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine. “Freedom to travel is one of the benefits in single European environment, therefore we hope that the Ukrainian government will soon be able to meet all the technical requirements as soon as possible so that the EU would be able to decide on visa-free regime with Ukraine,” said Raimonds Vējonis. He indicated that implementation of the decisions of the Riga Summit was very important currently and he recalled that provisions of the Ukraine-EU Free Trade Agreement also will be fully applied in January next year.
An important part of the meeting between the delegations was devoted to the issue of the reforms, which Ukraine had carried out and would carry out in public administration and judicial system. Raimonds Vējonis noted that Latvia appreciated that Ukraine had achieved to date, however, it was essential to achieve introduction of a legislative initiative into practice. P.Poroshenko confirmed that the amendments to the Constitution providing for decentralization of power, were under adoption process and the reforms of the judicial system and improving of the investment climate by reforming the taxation system were progressing. He also expressed confidence that Latvia’s practical support by sharing its expertise would be precious assistance in the reforming process.
When addressing economic cooperation, the President of Latvia told that the Latvian and Ukrainian entrepreneurs had extensive opportunities to develop cooperation not only in agriculture, but also in pharmaceutical industry, food industry, mechanical engineering, transport, and logistics. “During the last twenty years we have witnessed various reforms in agriculture and we can definitely share our experience in helping Ukraine to get to know the EU market demands better,” added Raimonds Vējonis. Members of the Latvian and Ukrainian delegations had a similar view that regional cooperation was of utmost importance. As underlined by the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, it was particularly valuable for facilitation of small business, where Latvia’s experience in development of cooperatives might be useful. In his turn, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation of Latvia Kaspars Ozoliņš stated that great potential for development lied in rail and air traffic between Latvia and Ukraine.
The visit to Ukraine is the first bilateral official visit of the President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis, when he also met with the Speaker of Parliament of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, with whom he discussed progress of reforming the judicial system and anti-corruption matters and progress of relevant legislation in the government and in the Parliament.
In the early evening, the President of Latvia attended the final discussion of the expert round table, dedicated to Latvia’s solidarity with Ukraine on its eurointegration path, where non-governmental organizations and representatives of state institutions met to discuss the progress made so far and to identify future areas of cooperation. The President of Latvia confirmed that Latvia would continue to support Ukraine on its reforming path by ensuring changes in good governance, anti-corruption, regional development, and agriculture, “Being a full-fledged EU Member State for eleven years, Latvia is aware of how much effort achieving the goals in the reforming process requires, but we can safely say that the main benefit is the way to a better society and a stronger country.”
