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

During his visit to Japan, Kucinskis also met with the heads of the Japanese companies interested in business development opportunities in Latvia, the Latvia prime minister's office said.

Kucinskis said in his speech that a new step had been made towards intensifying political and economic cooperation between Latvia and Japan. He stressed that Latvia was not a large country and therefore could not focus just on the domestic market. Latvia is a rapidly growing economy with an open market that is willing to take major steps to increase cooperation with other countries, he said.

The participants of the meeting agreed that now was a good time for intensifying economic cooperation between Latvia and Japan, considering the good potential for business growth.

The Japanese business representatives inquired mostly about cooperation opportunities with Latvia in transport and logistics as well as tourism. They were also interested in Latvia's energy policy and cooperation in medicine and pharmaceutical business.

The need for speedy signing of the EU-Japan free trade agreement was underlined during the meeting. A business delegation from Latvia also participated in the meeting.

As reported, Kucinskis is visiting Japan on December 5-9. He will have meetings with the Japanese prime minister and several ministers as well as with the members of the Latvian-Japanese parliamentary cooperation group. The Latvian prime minister will also participate in forums on Latvian-Japanese economic cooperation development, organized by Japan External Trade Organization and the Fintech Center of Tokyo (FINOLAB).