OREANDA-NEWS. On April 02, 2008 Ivars Godmanis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, met Zhang Limin, Ambassador of People's Republic of China, during his introductory visit, reported the Official website www.mk.gov.lv.

The focus of the meeting was the topical issues of relations between Latvia and China, economic cooperation and current political matters. During the course of discussions, the officials approved of the bilateral dialogue and necessity to further cooperation in economics, science, education and culture.

The Prime Minister highlighted the interest of Latvia in expanding economic relations with China – especially in the area of transit, rail transportation and use of sea ports. The Head of the Government particularly emphasized the use of Latvian transport, transit and logistics infrastructure for the purpose of trade between China and the European Union (EU), and development of Latvia as the regional centre of logistics. The Prime Minister appealed to China for intensification of forming the rail cooperation transport group.

The Prime Minister once again reminded about the interest of Latvia in pursuing the issue of direct air traffic between Riga and Beijing, stressing the necessity for organising the meeting of experts of respective line ministries in order to learn about the facilities of the Riga airport and discuss the opportunities for the direct air transportation.

The situation in Taiwan and Tibet was also discussed during the meeting. With regard to Taiwan, the Prime Minister once again approved the One China Policy, consistently implemented by the Government of Latvia, and noted that the mentioned issue can only be solved in a peaceful manner. Considering the situation in Tibet, the Prime Minister expressed negative attitude towards any kind of violence, stressing that a sustainable solution can only be achieved through discussions. The Prime Minister noted that a positive dealing with those delicate issues could be promoted by China’s ability to provide open and correct information about the situation in Tibet to the world, and ensure the presence of diplomats and international journalists in the region.