Today, President of Latvia Egils Levits met with Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and Foreign Affairs Minister of Maldives, at the Riga Castle. Meeting focused on current global agenda: climate change, international law, Russian invasion of Ukraine and Latvia’s active involvement in the UN.
President of Latvia noted that it is a great pleasure to receive the President of the UN General Assembly on the first official visit to Latvia and acknowledged the successful cooperation under Mr Shahid’s leadership on issues such as geopolitical challenges, recovery from Covid-19 pandemic, sustainable development goals and other current priorities, while President Shahid underlined that Latvia is a respected UN member with constructive approach to international and UN agenda. Mr Shahid thanked Latvia for its active role in ensuring smooth running of UN institutions that defend rules-based international order, sustainability, gender equality and peace. Egils replied by promising continued commitment of Latvia to on-going UN reforms.
President of Latvia and President of the 76th Session of UN General Assembly both agreed on the need to increase the focus of international agenda on climate change. President Levits and President Shahid both expressed hope that UN Climate Change Conference, which will take place this November in Egypt, will yield progress in this area and help avoid further humanitarian crisis caused by climate change.
International law and global peace was another key issue discussed during the meeting. Both officials underlined the role of small states in multilateral framework and ensuring of international legal principles. President of Latvia reminded that Latvia strongly condemns Russian aggression against Ukraine and called for special tribunal to investigate aggressor’s crimes. ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine should not weaken the application of international legal standards. President Shahid and I discussed the proposal to create a special tribunal that would give the legal assessment of aggression. It is a complicated task because such decisions require the support of at least two-thirds of UN voting members. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that such proposal must be discussed,’ Egils Levits said after the meeting. President Levits praised UN General Assembly vote that was supported by 141 state and determined that if any of UN Security Council members vetoes a decision it needs to be approved by General Assembly.
President of Latvia also urged UN to continue focusing on cyber-security and media literacy programmes that are vital for the overall global security.
Egils Levits also touched upon Latvia’s candidacy for a non-permanent membership of UN Security Council in 2025.
Both officials also expressed interest in deepening Latvia-Maldives bilateral relations.
