Monday, June 19th 2017, Riga
STATEMENT FROM THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT XHAFERI WITH THE LATVIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, MRS. INARA MURNIECE
Within the framework of the participation of the President of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi was held an official meeting with Mrs. Inara Murniece, the Speaker of the Latvian Parliament.
During the meeting, was expressed gratitude for the strong and concrete support that the Republic of Latvia is providing to the Republic of Macedonia in the plan for European and Euroatlantic integration. As a highly positive impulse in this context was mentioned the mutual Declaration for the opening of pre-accession negotiations of the European Union with the Republic of Macedonia, adopted by the representatives of the committees for European issues of Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian parliaments in 2012. With this declaration was promoted the concept of parallel solution of the name issue and the beginning of pre-accession negotiations, a concept which later was supported by many member - states of the European Union.
Mrs. Murniece, cordially congratulated the election of Mr. Talat Xhaferi as the President of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia. At the same time, she congratulated the election of the new Government, as the first step towards the stabilization of the political situation in the country after the unpleasant events of April 27th, which she condemned as an attack on democracy. She underlined that the Republic of Latvia will continue to remain a strong supporter of the European and euroatlantic integration of the Republic of Macedonia, because the stability of Western Balkan depends on its full European integration. This will create strong foundations for the elimination of all international impacts in terms of regional security.
Interlocutors shared reciprocal conviction and expectation that the firmly established bilateral cooperation between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the Assembly of the Republic of Latvia in the aspect of parliamentarian groups for cooperation will also continue in the future at a similar pace, where the Members of the Parliament of both assemblies will have the opportunity to closely exchange opinions and experiences from the parliamentarian work, international affairs and other current issues.
The Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the Assembly of the Republic of Latvia, altogether with the Hungarian Parliament, a few years ago had a successful IPA project, whose project team was preceded by an expert from the Republic of Latvia, where through a series of seminars, the parliamentary officials of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia came closer to the process of EU accession, the acquired knowledge and practical experiences during the road to EU membership, and especially the challenges during the implementation of the needed reforms that are required from the parliaments of the candidate countries for membership in the European Union.