Latvia

Note: This column mainly includes countries along the Belt and Road and countries that have signed cooperation agreements with China on Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2013, the friendly and cooperative relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Latvia continued to develop.

Exchanges were maintained at the top and other levels. In November, Premier Li Keqiang met with Edgars Rinkevics, Foreign Minister and Representative of Latvian Prime Minister, who was attending the Meeting of Heads of Government of Central and Eastern European Countries and China in Bucharest, Romania. In April, Sergejs Potapkins, Representative of Latvia's Harmony Center attended the Fourth China-Europe High-level Political Parties Forum in China. Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao met with him in Beijing. Also in April, Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent a message of condolences to Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics over the roof collapse incident at a supermarket in Riga. Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng paid condolences at the Latvian Embassy in Beijing.

Exchanges were strengthened between the two foreign ministries. In July, Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao held the consultation between two foreign ministries with Latvian Foreign Ministry's State Secretary Andrejs Pildegovics in Latvia, and met with Foreign Minister Rinkevics. In September, State Secretary Pildegovics, who served as Latvia's national coordinator for cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, attended the Third China-Eurasia Expo in China. Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao met with him in Beijing.

Continued progress was made in business and cultural cooperation and cooperation at the subnational level. In May, the China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe held performances in Riga. Latvian Cultural Minister Zanete Jaunzeme-Grende attended the Forum on Cultural Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries in China. A number of Chinese leaders visited Latvia, including Vice Chairman Zhang Wei of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Chairman Zhao Changyi of the Shenyang Municipal People's Congress, Vice Chairman Dondrup Wangboin of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Chairman Du Deyin of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress. By the end of 2013, there were two pairs of sister provinces/cities between the two countries.