OREANDA-NEWS. February 28, 2011. Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis during the meeting with Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt discussed the development of economic cooperation between both countries in new quality. The officials also discussed the issues on strengthening the bilateral political dialogue and the dialogue in the region, as well as agreed on similar understanding of the current EU issues.

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis expressed his recognition to Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt and Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt for Sweden’s substantial role in international recognition and strengthening of the independence of Latvia and other Baltic countries, as well as positively assessed the unsealed part of the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden on February 17 on the secret diplomatic documents pertaining to the collapse of the USSR and the Baltic freedom movement in 1991. The Prime Minister of Sweden highly recognized the sustainable and close cooperation between both countries as evidenced by a range of events organized in Sweden on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of restoration of the independence of the Baltic countries. Within the framework of these events, F. Reinfeldt extended an invitation to V.Dombrovskis to attend the central event of the 20th anniversary on August 15, this year.

Prime Minister V.Dombrovskis mentioned that the establishment and 15 years of operation of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga is the success story in cooperation between both countries, which is a significant contribution of Sweden to the development of the education system in Latvia and the Baltic countries.

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis informed about the financial and macroeconomic stability in Latvia. He pointed to the fact that Latvia is successfully implementing the international stabilization program and highly recognized Sweden’s interest and support to Latvia in overcoming the economic crisis. The Prime Minister of Latvia mentioned that the latest statistical data and positive ratings by the international rating agencies are indicative of economic recovery of the country. Discussing the current developments in the financial sector, Prime Minister of Sweden F.Reinfeldt pointed to the fact that the situation in the countries of the region is similar and the Swedish government closely follows the current trends in the area of crediting, incl., gradual resumption of crediting.

Discussing the economic cooperation related issues, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis pointed to the fact that Sweden is one of the most important partners of Latvia for economic cooperation with high potential in cooperation in the future. The Prime Minister mentioned that the economic relations between both countries should be strengthened in sectors with high value-added, for instance, wood-processing, engineering, information technologies, “green technologies”, transit and logistics, as well as manufacturing of deep processed wood products. The Prime Minister of Latvia mentioned that the decisions made by Swedish companies and banks on their activities in Latvia have a substantial impact on the rate of economic recovery of the country.

Both sides also discussed the energy issues, incl. the plan for integration of the Baltic energy market providing for development of a single Baltic electricity market and further integration into the electricity market of the Nordic countries. V.Dombrovskis also informed about the substantial role of the LNG terminal that would prevent the energy isolation of the Baltic region and mentioned the most important advantages of the construction of the LNG terminal in Latvia. Both sides shared their experience in promotion of energy efficiency in Latvia and Sweden. The Prime Minister mentioned the advantages of renewable energy resources. The Prime Ministers also discussed the conclusions of the February European Council devoted to energy issues.

Within the framework of the visit both officials discussed the current EU issues on economic governance, eurozone, multiannual budget, Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy. V.Dombrovskis mentioned the priorities of Latvia regarding the Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy in discussions on multiannual EU budget. The Prime Minister of Latvia mentioned that Latvia will continue to support the reform of the Direct Payments System, making the direct payments fairer towards all EU farmers. The Prime Minister of Sweden mentioned that he has similar understanding on many issues and pointed to common orientation of the Baltic and the Nordic countries towards reforms and increasing the competitiveness as the best means to exit the current economic problems of the European Union.

This is the second visit of Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt to Latvia. The first visit was on June 3-4, 2008 when Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt participated in the Summit of the Heads of Government of the Baltic Sea States.