President of Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Speaker of the Latvian Saeima discussed the support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations

18 May 2021 - 16:49

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Speaker of the Latvian Saeima discussed the support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia Ināra Mūrniece who is on an official visit to Ukraine.

The Head of State informed the interlocutor about the security situation in Donbas. During the meeting, special attention was paid to the current situation on the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"I know that you have a very productive and busy visit to Ukraine. I want to thank you and your colleagues for visiting Donbas. I am grateful for the support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, for not supporting the occupation of Crimea," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

The President reminded that in May 2019, the Saeima of Latvia was the first foreign parliament to recognize the deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet authorities from the territory of Crimea in 1944 as genocide.

The Head of State noted that on May 18, the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, he submitted a bill on indigenous peoples to the Verkhovna Rada as urgent.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the fact that President of Latvia Egils Levits was the first world leader to confirm his intention to take part in the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform in August this year in Kyiv.

During the meeting, the recent initiative of Latvian deputies to establish a Crimean Platform Support Group in the Saeima was positively assessed, which is evidence of Latvia's readiness to put this important format into practice.

The parties also discussed Ukraine's strategic goal of becoming a member of the European Union. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the importance of signing a joint Declaration of the Presidents of Ukraine and Latvia on Ukraine's European prospect online in May this year.

The President of Ukraine and the Speaker of the Saeima of Latvia agreed on the need to preserve the traditionally high dynamics of the Ukrainian-Latvian inter-parliamentary dialogue both in the bilateral format and within the international parliamentary assemblies.