RIGA - The foreign minister and the transport minister engaged in a public verbal spat as the two political heavyweights criticized each others work.
In the most recent development, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins asked the prime minister to shake up the transport ministry.
"Our ambassadors receive criticism that foreign tourists have problems with Latvian roads. Driving resembles a poorly organized orienteering competition," Riekstins told the Baltic News Service on May 26.
The comments came in response to a speech that Transport Minister Ainars Slesers gave at the May 24 Latvia's First/Latvia's Way party meeting, where he said that the country's foreign ambassadors need to work harder to promote economic growth.
The heated exchange represents a rift that has appeared between two of the most powerful, high-profile members of the cabinet.
Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis weighed in on the matter in a May 27 interview with the "Good Morning Latvia" television news program. Godmanis said the two political powerhouses should keep their disagreements out of the public arena.
"I must say that it would be better if the proposals to improve the work were expressed in different form. The public form is causing opposing reaction… The issue is that it is not possible to draw a sharp line with the ruler where one sphere [of responsibilities] ends and the other starts," the prime minister said.
Slesers, a former candidate for prime minister, called on Godmanis to consider making changes in the foreign sector to help ambassadors represent Latvia's economic interests. He said it would be wrong for the country not to realize its full potential abroad.
The minister said that ambassadors should spend more time promoting Latvia's economic interests, rather than simply attending receptions. He highlighted the ambassador to Japan as a good example of how foreign representatives should operate.
Slesers said the country needed to form a pragmatic foreign policy. He said that although Latvia will never manage to achieve mutual understanding of the past with Russia, an agreement can be reached on the future.
The transport minister called for more funds to be allocated to the development of the tourism industry, promoting Latvia's image abroad and inviting people to visit the Baltic state.
Riekstins, himself a former ambassador to the United States, shot back, calling Slesers' comments "an absolutely primitive approach to the assessment of ambassadors' work."
The minister defended the diplomats' work, saying that they were "responsibly defending" economic concerns while simultaneously promoting a wide variety of other national interests abroad.
"Ambassadors represent economic, political and cultural interests. Latvian culture can promote Latvia's image abroad and arouse interest in foreign investors," the foreign minister said.
Slesers, who is famous for his strong-arm political techniques, has clashed with a number of powerful officials in recent months. He is currently involved in an ongoing defamation case over comments allegedly made about State Auditor Inguna Sudraba.
