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Latvian MFA: Ukraine has to demonstrate its willingness to move forward with Minsk Process

BC, Riga, 15.04.2016.Print version
It is important that Ukraine demonstrate its willingness to move ahead with the Minsk Process, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said during a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kiev today, informs LETA.

Edgars Rinkevics and Pavlo Klimkin. Kiev, 15.04.2016. Photo: flickr.com

Speaking of fighting in Eastern Ukraine and ways to stop it, Rinkevics said it was important for Ukraine to show its readiness to move on with the Minsk Process, and emphasized the importance of political solutions to the conflict.

 

Rinkevics also pointed out that Latvia supported organizing a meeting of NATO-Ukraine Commission at the heads of state level during the NATO Summit in Warsaw.

 

Latvia actively implements development cooperation projects in collaboration with Ukraine to pass its reform experience on to Ukraine in such areas as regional reforms, agriculture, and prevention of corruption, said Rinkevics. Latvia is interested in deeper economic cooperation with Ukraine, he added.

 

Edgars Rinkevics believes that the new Ukrainian government must demonstrate responsibility and the ability to continue pushing forward with necessary reforms, especially judicial reforms and in fighting corruption.

 

During a meeting in Kyiv today with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, the two sides discussed bilateral relations between Latvia and Ukraine, Ukraine-EU relations, as well as Ukraine's reform progress and the situation in eastern Ukraine, LETA was informed by the Foreign Ministry.

 

During the meeting, Rinkevics congratulated Klimkin on being re-appointed foreign minister in the new Ukrainian government, and confirmed that Latvia will continue to support closer integration of Ukraine with the EU.

 

''That is why it is important for Ukraine's new government to demonstrate responsibility and the ability to push forward with necessary reforms. At the same time, work must also continue in improving the judicial system and in fighting corruption,'' the minister said.

 

At the same time, the foreign minister expressed support for the implementation of visa-free travel between the EU and Ukraine.

 

The AFP news agency reports that Ukraine's parliament on Thursday appointed pro-Western speaker Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister in a bid to end months of political gridlock and unlock vital aid to the war torn-state.

Lawmakers voted by 257 to 50 to approve the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk – condemned by President Petro Poroshenko for losing the public's trust – and select Groysman in the first cabinet overhaul since Ukraine's 2014 pro-EU revolt.

 

"We have to end the crisis and ensure the permanence of our course toward European integration and the resumption of economic growth," the 38-year-old Groysman told deputies shortly before the vote. "We have to accelerate the pace of reforms. I would like to see this government restore the public's trust."

 

Poroshenko himself called Groysman "a politician from a new generation" who could tackle "the real possibility of Ukraine turning into a state of chaos".

 

Groysman's appointment comes with Ukraine embroiled in a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in the east that has claimed nearly 9,200 lives and suffering an economic meltdown that has erased people's savings and saw inflation soar above 40% last year.

 

Ukraine's youngest-ever premier will also have to demonstrate quick returns on a fight against corruption that has permeated all levels of government and was one of the factors behind three months of protests that brought down the Russian-backed leadership in February 2014, the AFP points out.






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