Minister waxes optimistic about Russia

  • 2004-04-15
  • Baltic News Service
RIGA - Latvia's newly appointed foreign minister, Rihards Piks, said he is certain of an improvement in Latvian-Russian relations.

In an interview to the Latvian Russian-language daily Vesti Segodnya, Piks said, "I expect that an immediate improvement in relations will not take place. Most likely some time will have to pass until Russia gets used to the new geopolitical situation and the new status of our country. But I am sure that an improvement in political relations will definitely take place. Economic relations are developing well, mutual trade is up and we are happy."
Piks, who is a member of the People's Party, also noted that the presence of Russian culture in Latvia is very widespread.
"There are constant guest performances by Russian theaters... I think that Latvia is one of the European countries with the closest cultural cooperation with Russia. Therefore, talk of us trying to limit cultural exchange between the two countries is ungrounded," said the minister.
The foreign minister added that postponing the Russian culture days is in no way related to any political decision.
"Latvia sent a letter to top Russian colleagues requesting that the event be postponed... there is no politics in this, its only explained by the financial difficulties and technical problems - schedules for using halls and exhibition galleries for this year are already full up. I hope that our Russian colleagues will understand our situation," he said.
Latvian-Russian relations have been edgy for the past few years but are widely believed to see improvement in the future since Latvia has joined NATO and is about to join the European Union.