Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs stated the need to begin negotiations on new agreements of the European Union with Azerbaijan and Armenia, the press service of the Latvian MFA reported.

On 23 May in Brussels, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs took part in the 7th Meeting of Eastern Partnership Foreign Ministers with participation of Foreign Ministers from the EU member States and the Eastern Partnership countries. The working session included a discussion on the ways for facilitating cooperation with partners in the follow-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga.

Edgars Rinkēvičs expressed the conviction that the Eastern Partnership will be considered truly successful only when citizens of the partner countries feel tangible benefits and, to this end, the continuity of the Eastern Partnership must be ensured. The Minister called on the EU to actively support the Eastern Partnership countries.

The citizens of the Eastern Partnership countries must feel practical benefits from cooperation with the EU, said the Latvian Foreign Minister, while emphasising that the implementation of agreements on the deep and comprehensive free trade area, visa liberalisation, and closer sectoral cooperation are the right and necessary steps that the EU must take. Minister Rinkēvičs called for broader cooperation in transport, transit, energy, commerce, health and the IT sector. The partners’ resilience must also be further strengthened through support for the reform process, the promotion of public engagement, opportunities for interconnections and market access, and enhancement of strategic communication capabilities, said Foreign Minister Rinkēvičs. 

In his remarks, Edgars Rinkēvičs outlined one of the contributions made by the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council, namely, constructive cooperation with Belarus, and urged Belarus to establish a moratorium on the death penalty.