Meeting of Mr Vadim Popov with the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Latvia

     On 17 May 2010 Mr Vadim Popov, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for Economy, Budget and Finances, Head of the Working Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia, had a meeting with the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Latvia, particularly with Mr Andris Bērziņš, Chairperson of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, and Mr Aleksandrs Golubovs, Chairperson of the Saeima group for cooperation with the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. The Belarusian side was presented by Ms Anna Shareiko, member of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security, deputies of the House of Representatives Yevgeny Artyushenko, Mr Vitaly Busko, Ms Tatyana Isachenko, Mr Vladimir Karpyak, Ms Anna Levitskaya and Ms Marina Remsha. The participants of the meeting discussed the state and possibilities of inter-parliamentary cooperation, development of bilateral links in the trade and economic sphere, as well as other questions of common interest.

     At the beginning of the meeting Mr Vadim Popov acquainted the members of the Latvian delegation with the activities of the Council of the Republic and peculiarities of the legislative process and the interaction of the Council of the Republic with local authorities. The parliamentarians exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. Mr Vadim Popov positively appraised the level of Belarusian-Latvian relations. In his opinion the mere fact that Belarus and Latvia are neighbours gives an impetus to their close cooperation. Thereat he expressed hope that parliamentarians of the two countries would play a more active role in the development of bilateral interaction in the trade and economic sphere.

     Mr Andris Bērziņš in his turn noted that there were no obstacles to the development of comprehensive cooperation between the neighbouring states of Belarus and Latvia, and that the inter-parliamentary dialogue was an important element of the cooperation. On behalf of the headship of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia he invited the delegation of the Working Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia to visit his country. Mr Aleksandrs Golubovs also noted the necessity to extend the links between the legislative bodies of the two countries.

     During the meeting the sides gave a lot of attention to the participation of both countries in the activities of European parliamentary structures. Mr Vadim Popov informed his Latvian colleagues that the Belarusian Parliament had submitted a request for observer status to the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. The Latvian side expressed readiness to support the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus  on this matter. The sides agreed that the activities of the Belarusian and Latvian parliamentarians should facilitate the development of cross-border cooperation between our countries.