On 21 April 2023 in Riga, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský, who was in Latvia on a working visit. The Ministers discussed security cooperation between Latvia and the Czech Republic, preparations for the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the state of affairs in the region, the enlargement of the European Union and other international developments.

Edgars Rinkēvičs expressed appreciation of the excellent cooperation with the Czech Republic both bilaterally and in multilateral formats and he thanked the Czech Republic for its contribution to strengthening of security in the Baltic region by participating in the Canadian-lead NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence battle group in Latvia.

In the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the officials agreed that the provision of all the necessary support to Ukraine should continue. Edgars Rinkēvičs emphasized that assistance should also continue through international organizations and multilateral forums, at the same time isolating the Russian Federation.

The Ministers exchanged views on the situation in the Western Balkans region. Russia’s war in Ukraine has again turned the spotlight on the geopolitical and strategic importance of the EU’s enlargement process. Latvia advocates a credible EU enlargement policy based on meeting the set criteria, on each country’s own merits and unequivocal support for European values.

“Thank you for the warm welcome @edgarsrinkevics. Latvia is the flagship country in Europe when it comes to proposing sanctions, so I was interested in the experience so far. On foreign and security policy issues, there couldn’t be a bigger agreement between CZ<,” tweeted Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský after the meeting.