The Ambassador of Latvia, Einars Semanis, presents his credentials to the President of Belarus

On 12 September 2019, the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia, Einars Semanis, presented his letters of credence to the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

During the accreditation ceremony, President Lukashenko drew attention to the close bilateral relations between Latvia and Belarus considering that they are neighbours with common economic interests, and that Latvians and Belarusians are linked by their traditions, culture and history. The President noted in particular the expansion and deepening of the ongoing cooperation and he also referred to the active political dialogue between Latvia and Belarus, as demonstrated by the recent visit to Minsk of the Latvian Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs.

In his presentation in reply, Ambassador Semanis underlined that Latvia welcomes the active political dialogue with Belarus, which is an important neighbour, and Latvia is interested in reinforcing the positive trend in that relationship. The Ambassador stressed that business cooperation should be developed, with transport and logistics as one of the main priorities, especially the transit of oil and potassium salt products.

The President of Belarus and the Latvian Ambassador agreed that a major upcoming positive challenge is the great honour and responsibility entrusted to Latvia and Belarus of jointly organizing the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2021.