Baltic States – CIS, Latvia, Russia

The Latvian Economics Ministry said that the ongoing economic cooperation between regions in Latvia and Russia as well as the ways to encourage further regional economic cooperation were discussed at the meeting in Pskov, Russia, on May 17.

Latvia sees vast opportunities for closer cooperation with Russia's regions in trade and investments, tourism, higher education, agriculture, transport, transit and logistics, etc.

"A strong wall is made up of individual bricks. Similarly, cooperation between individual regions helps to build cooperation between two countries," said Juris Stinka, State Secretary of the Latvian Economics Ministry, at the opening of the working group meeting.

According to the Economics Ministry, in 2016 Russia was the fourth largest of Latvia's foreign trade partners and second largest in terms of total direct foreign investment.

The Latvian-Russian Cross-Border Cooperation Program for 2014-2020 also plays a significant role in the regional cooperation between the two countries.

During his visit to Pskov, Stinka met with Vice Governor Sergey Pernikov to discuss building closer cooperation with the Pskov region that borders with Latvia.