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President Zatlers told the vice president that Latvia is interested in promoting greater co-operation in such areas as pharmaceutics, wood processing, the food industry, information technologies and telecommunications. He presented Xi Jin Ping with a list of investment projects in Latvia, calling upon Chinese businesspeople to invest in Latvia’s infrastructure, transport and logistics sector, and scientific and medical technologies. After the meeting, and in the presence of the President and the Chinese vice president, Finance Ministry State Secretary Mārtiņš Bičevskis signed an agreement on partnership between the Latvian Mortgage Bank and the Chinese Development Bank. That will make it possible to attract strategic investors from China to major infrastructure projects, reported BC presidential press service.

In discussing the development of bilateral relations, President Zatlers also stressed the importance of education and culture in strengthening the relationship between the two countries. Xi Jin Ping expressed his support for the opening of a Confucius Centre in Rīga, as well as in the provision of Chinese language teachers and educational materials with the aim of allowing people to learn more about the Chinese language and culture. The vice president welcomed the publication of an important Chinese-Latvian dictionary as a way of strengthening cultural links between the two countries.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Latvian Education and Science Minister Tatjana Koķe signed an agreement on the mutual recognition of higher education documents, which will make it more possible for Latvian students to study in China and vice versa. That is also an important way of developing the export of Latvian higher education to China. Latvia is the third member state of the European Union to have such an agreement with China. Culture Minister Ints Dālderis, for his part, signed an agreement on cultural exchanges, which provides for several cultural co-operation projects between the two countries between 2011 and 2015.

During the President’s meeting with the vice president, Xi Jin Ping praised Latvia’s participation in the World EXPO 2010 exhibition in Shanghai. President Zatlers, for his part, thanked China for the outstanding level of organisation at the exhibition. He invited the vice president to visit Latvia, and Xi Jin Ping accepted the invitation.

While in Beijing today, President Zatlers also visited the Huawei Telecommunications Company, which is active in Latvia in working with fixed and mobile telecommunications operators. The company has demonstrated its respect for the Latvian people by presenting the country with a videoconferencing system as a gift.

In the evening, President Zatlers attended a dinner hosted by China’s deputy prime minister, Hui Liangyu.

At the conclusion of his visit, President Zatlers will meet with representatives of the Latvian community in Beijing.