OREANDA-NEWS. On February 18, 2008, Ivars Godmanis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, met Alexander Veshniakov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Latvia, during his introductory visit, reported the Official website www.mk.gov.lv.

The Prime Minister congratulated Alexander Veshniakov on assuming his office in Latvia and expressed hope that the work of Ambassador will be successful and will promote further development of relations between Latvia and Russia. The Russian Ambassador affirmed his readiness to maintain positive progress in relations between both countries.

The Prime Minister and the Russian Ambassador discussed bilateral relations of Latvia and Russia, and the planned exchange of visits of the officials of both countries – the visit of the President of the Republic of Latvia to Russia, the participation of the Russian Prime Minister in the summit of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Latvia in July this year, and his visit to Latvia, as well as continuation of work of the Latvian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission which next meeting is planned on April 7.

The parties shared a common view on early preparation for singing of an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in investment protection and agreement on avoidance of double taxation.

Ivars Godmanis and Alexander Veshniakov discussed closer cooperation in energy, banking, transport and railway cargo transportation, stressing the necessity for tackling the issue of creating a new border crossing point on the border of Latvia and Russia, increasing its capacity and improving the infrastructure.

The Prime Minister appealed for closer cooperation of internal institutions of both countries in combating crimes, illegal drug circulation, and car thefts, and proposed to organise a meeting of the Ministers for the Interior of Latvia and Russian to discuss those issues.

The Head of the Latvian Government and the Russian Ambassador exchanged views on economic growth of both countries and internal political processes.