RIGA - Interior Minister Erik Jekabsons gave his first press conference on April 7 since becoming minister, during which he outlined the ministry's top priorities - combating the drug trade, corruption, the sex trade, organized crime and terrorism.
The fight against drugs would be given top priority, stressed the minister, who said he would push for tougher sentences for convicted drug dealers.
Jekabsons, a member of Latvia's First Party and a Protestant minister, recently returned from the United States, where he met with top law enforcement officials, including FBI director Robert Miller. According to Jekabsons, Miller expressed an interest in sharing intelligence with Latvia on the threat of organized crime emanating from Russia.
Jekabsons admitted that criminal elements in Russia were using Latvia as a transit base, a topic he said he intended to take up with his Russian counterpart in the nearest future.
While meeting with State Department officials, Jekabsons suggested that Latvians should be allowed to enter the United States without a visa, or at the very least, to obtain a visa at a lower cost.
U.S. Ambassador Brian Carlson, who was present at the press conference, stressed that the U.S.A. was interested in people traveling to America, but that it was against illegal employment. The more prosperous Latvia becomes, explained the ambassador, the easier it will be for residents to travel to the United States.
The current refusal rate on visa applications in Latvia, Carlson said, was 20 percent last year, while the rate for visa-free travel for a country should be around 3 percent.
