More than one year since his previous visit to Latvia, President of the Confederation Didier Burkhalter today held talks in Riga with top-level Latvian state officials. The talks focused on developments in Ukraine. In his meeting with President Andris Bērziņš, Speaker of the Saeima Solvita Āboltiņa, Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, and Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, and speaking in his capacity as the Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), President Burkhalter explained the measures that the OSCE had taken to facilitate a political solution to the conflict. He advocated the enlargement of the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine and thanked Latvia for its support for the monitoring mission, which has five Latvian members. Yesterday, Switzerland announced it would step up its support for the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine.
In addition, the Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE called on all sides to support a political solution to the Ukraine crisis and to counter any possible escalation of the violence in Ukraine, stressing the urgent need for a political dialogue in Ukraine as the next step.
A further topic of the talks in Riga was Swiss policy on the EU. Latvia will take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from Italy on 1 January 2015. President Burkhalter explained to President Bērziņš, Prime Minister Straujuma, Foreign Minister Rinkēvičs and Speaker of the Saeima Āboltiņa the steps taken by the Federal Council to implement the new article in the constitution on immigration, which includes the possibility of talks with the EU and its members states on a solution to the bilateral agreement on the free movement of persons. The talks in Riga took place in a very constructive atmosphere.
Both sides praised the good relations between Switzerland and Latvia. President Burkhalter highlighted in particular cultural exchanges, cooperation on research and the mutual interest in vocational education and training. He added that cooperation on the implementation of the projects in the framework of the Swiss enlargement contribution had been extremely good. In this context, Switzerland supports projects in Latvia amounting to CHF 60 million, including in the areas of regional development, the environment, modernisation of the courts, research and schools.
The volume of trade between the two countries in 2013 amounted to approximately CHF 180 million.
Further information:
Bilateral relations between Switzerland and Latvia
Switzerland chairs the OSCE in 2014
Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE on Twitter
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