OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2014. During the meeting with Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis, the Head of Government of Finland Jyrki Katainen emphasized that Latvia has achieved miracles through purposeful restoration of the stability, growth and optimism in the country. Latvia is mentioned as a model of overcoming the crisis throughout Europe, said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister of Finland also congratulated Latvia on becoming the 18th Member State of the euro area and pointed out that this step will help to deepen the economic cooperation between Latvia and Finland.

During the meeting, the Heads of Government of the two countries discussed common interests within the EU framework. V.Dombrovskis and J.Katainen were of the same opinion that there is the need to progress with the establishment of the banking union. V.Dombrovskis stressed that, in this context, it is important for Latvia to have a clear framework regarding the supervision of those structural units of banks outside the euro area - given that the Swedish banks dominate in the banking sector of Latvia.

The two officials also agreed that, at the EU level, there is the need to focus on the initiatives which improve competitiveness and promote economic activities.

V.Dombrovskis stressed that it will be one of Latvia’s priorities in 2015 when Latvia will be the presiding country in Council of the European Union. During its presidency, Latvia also plans to push forward the implementation of the EU’s Digital Single Market, the Baltic Sea Strategy, and the Eastern Partnership initiative.

The Heads of Government also discussed the issues of regional cooperation. The Prime Minister of Finland mentioned that the agreement hasn’t been reached in negotiations with Estonia on the construction of the regional LNG terminal, and both parties expect the opinion of the European Commission on further progress regarding this issue.

Within the framework of today’s visit, V.Dombrovskis also met Miapetra Kumpulu-Natri, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee of the Finish Parliament, visited the annual tourism exhibition Matka 2014, where Latvia participates in the capacity of a partner country, met the representatives of the Latvian community in Finland and the Finnish-Latvian Business Association.

The Prime Minister paid a visit to Helsinki at the invitation of the Head of the Government of Finland, and this was the last foreign visit by V.Dombrovskis in the post of the Prime Minister.