EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Transport

Eduards Stiprais and Nadeem Riyaz. Riga, 25.11.2014. Photo: flickr.com

The leader of the delegation of Pakistan was Additional Secretary for Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Nadeem Riyaz. With the aim of strengthening political dialogue between the Foreign Ministries, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on the establishment of a mechanism for regular political consultations.

Both delegations expressed their intention of expanding bilateral cooperation and appreciated the active exchange of visits over the past year. Commitments were made to expand the network of honorary consuls and to explore the potential for strengthening trade links, especially in the sectors of pharmaceuticals, IT, transport and logistics, and the textile industry. The delegations also expressed support for creating a bilateral legal framework and signing, in the near future, of the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation. The Latvian and Pakistani Foreign Ministries also expressed satisfaction at the development of cultural cooperation as well as excellent cooperation at international organisations.

The consultations also addressed the European Union (EU)-Pakistan dialogue and highlighted Latvia's priorities for its Presidency of the Council of the EU. Pakistan was invited to send its delegates to the Asia-Europe Meeting of Ministers for Education and the meeting of the Ministers for Transport in Riga, to be held in April 2015. Other topics discussed were trilateral cooperation, and the domestic and security policy in South Asian countries. Both ministries outlined their perspective on the developments in Afghanistan and Ukraine.

The diplomatic relations between Latvia and Pakistan were established on 29 April 1996. Since 2 October 2014, the non-resident Ambassador of Latvia to Pakistan has been Igors Apokins; he lives in Riga. The non-resident Ambassador of Pakistan to Latvia, Khalid Hussain Memon, took up his post on 16 September 2014. Ambassador Memon resides in Warsaw, Poland.