Presidency of the Republic of Moldova
Dear President Egils Levits,
Welcome to Chisinau! This visit was planned for a long time and thank you for accepting my invitation.
Your visit continues the tradition of good relations between the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Latvia, which we wish to develop further.
We highly appreciate that the Republic of Moldova remains a priority country in Latvia's Development Cooperation Policy, where dozens of projects are funded in many areas, including economic development, education, reintegration policies. The young people of the Republic of Moldova benefit from scholarships for studies and research in Latvia.
We have 10 border guards undergoing training in Latvia at the moment. Two Latvian officers are seconded to the Frontex Mission in our country. We appreciate the good cooperation that exists at border police level between our states and the help provided to strengthen border management capacities.
We appreciate the good cooperation at the level of local public administrations. We have already signed 27 cooperation agreements between local public administrations from the Republic of Moldova and Latvia.
We are interested in cooperating in the field of strategic communication and information security, and in strengthening the home affairs area by learning from Latvia's experience.
Also, we are very interested in continuous cooperation in the area of combating corruption, especially in the framework of rogatory commissions to identify and recover stolen goods and punish those who robbed the state and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.
Latvia is a great supporter of Moldova's European aspirations. The Republic of Moldova applied to join the European Union a few weeks ago, and we count on your support and that of the Riga Government in achieving candidate country status.
We have great potential for developing our economic relations, but also for strengthening social and cultural contacts between our countries. But, first and foremost, we need peace to achieve these goals.
Dear Mr. President,
We are going through a very difficult period for our region, but especially for Ukraine. The Russian army has been attacking towns and villages in the neighbouring country for six weeks already. Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and hundreds of them are children. We all saw the pictures of the atrocities in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel. Millions of people fled their homes and their country because of the war. The Ukrainian tragedy concerns us all. This war must be stopped.
The Republic of Moldova strongly condemned the military aggression, and we called for peace to be restored from the very first day of the conflict. The citizens of the Republic of Moldova have shown solidarity with Ukrainian refugees and welcomed them to their homes.
Nearly 95 thousand refugees from Ukraine remain in our country, and half of them are children. That is a big number for us, as a country which has a population of about 2.6 million. Therefore, we asked our foreign partners to help us relocate some of the refugees to their countries.
I appreciate the fact that Latvia agreed to receive 500 refugees from Ukraine who arrived in the Republic of Moldova. The first group of 30 people will leave for Latvia today by presidential plane. Thank you also for the humanitarian aid transported to Chisinau today.
Dear Mr. President,
It is clear that the war in Ukraine will greatly affect the Republic of Moldova. Imports and exports to Eastern markets are halted. Opening the Latvian market for Moldovan products would be a direct support for Moldovan entrepreneurs.
In this context, we are grateful for your government’s decision to allow the transit of goods by road from the Republic of Moldova without any permit documents until the end of June.
Despite all the difficulties and crises we are facing, we want to continue our development projects, strengthen democratic institutions, reform the justice system, fight against corruption and generate economic opportunities. We want to strengthen our state resilience and offer citizens a European path and future.
During these difficult times, we must do everything in our power to stop the tragedy, crime and destruction of war. We must prioritize solidarity, mutual aid, common interests and saving lives. It is our duty as people of good faith to do so. For the people of Ukraine, for peace in the region, for our common, prosperous and free future.
