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The President of the Republic met with the Speaker of the Latvian Parliament

30.01.2008

Yesterday in Kadriorg, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves met with Gundars Daudze, the Speaker of the Latvian Parliament, with whom he discussed the Baltic region and questions related to the European Union and NATO.

President Ilves, who called the relations between Estonia and Latvia close and intensive, deemed that Baltic cooperation in international organizations more broadly, and more specifically in the Baltic Sea Region is very important.

“One such field of Baltic cooperation is definitely power engineering, where we need rapid, clear and naturally coordinated and dependable activities that would guarantee the energy security of us all in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania,” emphasized the Estonian Head of State. “Currently, I hope that we agree on the means for achieving this goal and are not looking for alternatives.”

President Ilves and Speaker Daudze placed importance on the further development of Europe’s Neighborhood Policy, which would provide a greater sense of security to the close neighbors of the European Union that have started the process of reform, whereas the situation in Georgia was discussed at greater length.

“The keywords for Georgia now are free and fair parliamentary elections in May as well as balanced reforms, including greater contributions to the social sphere along with the development of civil society and the promotion of the principles of the rule of law,” said the Estonian Head of State. “We help those who want to help themselves and Georgia, which has set out on the road to democratic reforms, is among them.”

The Speaker of the Latvian Parliament described developments in Latvian-Russian relations, which include past and future high-level visits, as well as the signing of bilateral agreements.

The Estonian Head of State expressed his hope that this also result in a substantive change in relations.

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