Oleh Nemchinov, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, met with Evika Siliņa, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, on 25 March.

The meeting took place ahead of the XI meeting of the Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Latvian Commission on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which will be held in Riga on 26 March.

Oleh Nemchinov thanked the Latvian government and people for the important and consistent steps to strengthen Ukraine’s position in the fight against the russian aggressor, the assistance provided to Ukraine since the first days of the full-scale war and the fact that Latvia is one of the largest partners of Ukraine in terms of GDP per capita. In addition, the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers expressed his gratitude to Latvia for supporting Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO, stressing that Latvia was Ukraine’s reliable and long-standing ally in promoting its interests at the international level.

Oleh Nemchinov expressed his condolences to the Latvian people on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the March 1949 Deportation organised by the occupying soviet authorities against Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians, which resulted in 42,125 Latvians being killed. He stressed that Ukraine and Latvia unfortunately shared a painful history that had to be told to the world in the context of understanding russian aggression.

The parties also discussed the rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers in Latvia. Oleh Nemchinov expressed gratitude for the fact that Latvia had already accepted more than 500 Ukrainian service members for treatment and rehabilitation and stressed the importance of continuing the relevant programmes.

The two sides stressed the importance of military-technical cooperation and the functioning of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the two countries to discuss a number of bilateral cooperation issues of mutual interest and their practical implementation.