Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament thanked Latvia for excellent cooperation on the bilateral and international level: ‘Let me express my gratitude to Latvia for helping Ukrainian children affected by war and offering rehabilitation to our soldiers and political prisoners. We thank Latvia for supporting territorial integrity of Ukraine, excellent relations between the presidents, parliaments, governments of both countries and cooperation in the framework of international organisations like the EU, OSCE and the UN. Latvia is our true and real long-time friend.’
President of Latvia underlined that adherence to the international laws is one of the key foreign policy priorities of Latvia. He also said that international community should be constantly reminded of instances when international laws are violated, for example, in case of Crimean occupation and conflict in Donbas. Egils Levits expressed hope that Ukraine’s interests will be respected in the next round of so-called Normandy format peace talks in terms of the negotiation outcomes.
President Levits underlined that Latvia plays an active role in shaping and implementation of EU’s Eastern Partnership policy, and Easter Partnership Summit, which is expected to take place this summer, will determine the future of the policy and next steps with regard to each of EU Eastern Partnership countries.
Egils Levits and Dmytro Razumkov also discussed the NATO-Ukraine cooperation. ‘Ukraine is firmly committed to continue its NATO integration and EU Eastern Partnership policy. It is yet another way to show that we want to work together to advance democracy and protect human rights and other values,’ stressed Speaker Razumkov.
Other topics of the meeting included bilateral economic, trade and judicial cooperation between Latvia and Ukraine. Ukraine sees plenty of benefits in transferring Latvia’s judicial reform experience.
