New dreams are born, love is rising at School Youth Song and Dance Festival - Rinkevics

RIGA - At the School Youth Song and Dance Festival new dreams are born, and love is rising, and there is joy and pride for our people, for the country, for Latvia, President Edgars Rinkevics said at the festival's closing concert "TE - AUST" at Mezaparks Grand Bandstand on Sunday.

The Song Festival - first and foremost - is about the participants: the chief conductors and leaders, the parents and grandparents, who worry and care deeply about every little detail, emphasized Rinkevics.

The Song Festival is also about the listeners, who sing along and share in the experience with all their hearts, and the volunteers, who have supported both the cheerful and the weary participants. "The Song Festival - it is all of us, and that is why today all of Latvia is rejoicing!"

The president thanked every single person who had contributed to making this festival possible, and said that it brought him special joy to see the very youngest spectators and listeners. "These children are the reason we must cherish and protect our culture - and pass it down from generation to generation," said Rinkevics.

The festival week has shown that Latvia's future is in safe hands. "You are our future. And during this festival week, you have shown that our future is in safe hands," said Rinkevics.