Latvija in brief - 2011-06-30

The number of residents of Latvia that have emigrated from the country in the first four months of 2011 reached 5,113, which is 58 percent more than the same period last year, when 3,238 persons emigrated, according to data from the Central Statistics Bureau, reports Nozare.lv. 1,116 emigrated in January; 1,185 - in February; 1,392 - in March; and 1,420 - in April, which is the highest number of people that have emigrated per month since 1999. Incoming traffic numbers show that 725 persons immigrated to Latvia in the January-April period, a 16.5 decrease on the first four months of 2010, when the number of immigrants reached 868 persons. At the beginning of May, Latvia’s population was 2.2211 million, which is 2,200 persons less than the previous month. In May 2009, Latvia’s population stood at 2.2572 million, 36,100 persons more than this year.

On June 17, Foreign Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis, addressing the conference ‘Losses Caused by the Soviet Union in the Baltic States,’ said that the Soviet occupation separated Latvia from European civilization and Western culture, and that for Latvia to become a full-bodied European Union (EU) member, the country has to recover the losses and form the ties which have not been fostered for half a century, reports the Latvian Institute. “We also should convince the people who developed along with European economic and cultural space after World War II that we belong to them, and we are not less competitive, and we do not have less talent, and we are not just a corrupt nation,” said Kristovskis. The minister said that the occupation is not just the past. “It… can [not be] simply set aside; it has had very severe consequences. Consequences with material, and I would like to underscore, morally ethical losses,” said Kristovskis. The conference was held in the Latvian Academy of Sciences.

A minister of the Transitional National Council (TNC) of Libya, Abdurrahman Shalgam, was on a visit in Latvia on June 20, during which he met with the Foreign Ministry’s political director, Andris Razans, reports LETA.  During the meeting, the Libyan side expressed gratitude for the international community’s support for the Libyan people and talked about the current political and humanitarian situation in the country. Minister Abdurrahman Shalgam also presented the road map developed by the TNC for a political transition to a democratic model of public administration following the (possible) fall of the Gaddafi regime. During the discussion, the parties exchanged opinions on further possible support to the Libyan people by the international community, including the European Union. Razans expressed support for democratic reforms in the countries of Northern Africa and announced that Latvia recognizes the Transitional National Council of Libya as the political interlocutor representing the Libyan people during this interim period.