OREANDA-NEWS. Talks took place on October 23 between Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Maris Riekstins, who was on a working visit to Moscow.

The heads of the foreign affairs agencies discussed substantively a broad range of issues in Russian-Latvian cooperation and a schedule of upcoming contacts. Special attention was paid to streamlining the juridical base of our ties.

Mutual interest was stressed in the further consolidation of the recent positive dynamics in relations between Russia and Latvia. Good prerequisites were stated for constructing good-neighborly relations on the basis of mutual consideration of the interests of each other. The sides also exchanged views on the complicated issues of a humanitarian/historical nature that need to be tackled by painstaking joint efforts. In this context the Russian side pointed out that protecting the rights of our co-citizens and compatriots remains one of Russia’s foreign policy priorities, taking into account the existing relevant recommendations from international organizations.

The ministers also discussed a number of topical international and regional questions, including Russian relations with the European Union and NATO, as well as the situation in the Caucasus.