On 11-12 July in Beijing, China, the State Secretary of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, Andrejs Pildegovičs, will take part in the Meeting of National Coordinators of cooperation in the Eastern and Central Europe-China format (16+1). The State secretary is also to meet with Vice Foreign Minister of China, Wang Chao.
The National Coordinators will outline the results of the Meeting of Heads of Government of CEEC-China (16+1) held in Riga and blueprint the agenda of the next summit in Budapest.
Latvia has been active in the format since 2012, and cooperation with China has intensified considerably over this time, especially in terms of economic contacts: the export of Latvian goods to China has more than tripled, rising from EUR 46.5 million to EUR 119 million. Certificates for exports of dairy and fish products to China have also been obtained, while certificates for meat and honey are currently in the process of approval. The number of Chinese tourists has increased from 3.5 to 20 thousand. Work is under way to launch direct flights to a city in China, which would further promote tourism development. End of last year, a freight train from the Chinese city of Yiwu arrived in Riga, and two train sets with goods destined to China were prepared at the beginning of this year. Determined efforts are being made to start a regular traffic.
In a meeting with Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao, the parties intend to discuss bilateral relations, especially in business, transport, logistics, tourism, education and culture, as well as topics high on the European Union’s agenda and current developments in regional and security policy.
As part of his visit, the State Secretary will also meet with Chinese businessmen to share views on prospective cooperation with Latvia in the field of investments, transport and logistics.
