Interview: Latvian parliament speaker says increasing exchanges boost mutual trust, cooperation between Latvia, China

Increasing exchanges between Latvia and China will help deepen mutual understanding, trust and cooperation, Inara Murniece, speaker of the Latvian parliament Saeima said.

"The more we learn about each other, the deeper our mutual trust and cooperation grows. And we enrich ourselves in the process because this is how a friendship and partnership is built," she said in a written interview with Xinhua, ahead of the upcoming visit to Latvia by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

Murniece said exchanges by legislature bodies play an important role in enhancing Latvia-China relations.

The top Latvian legislator described the exchanges between the two countries' legislature bodies as "active," saying "regular visits take place both at the highest level and the level of the foreign affairs committees."

Meanwhile, she cited the fact that among the parliamentary groups, the group for cooperation with China is one of the largest of its kind, with 34 members from both the ruling coalition and opposition.

She added that the Latvian parliament supports the "16+1" cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Last November, the Latvian capital of Riga hosted the fifth China-CEE summit.

"China is Latvia's most important economic cooperation partner in the Far East," Murniece said, adding Latvian export of goods to China grew 8.5 percent in 2016 from a year earlier.

On the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, the top Latvian legislator said her country, which signed with China an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding of cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative last November, saw many opportunities.

"We see a lot of opportunities in cooperation with China, such as Latvia's development as a transport and logistics hub...... diversification of Latvian exports of goods and services, as well as investment in infrastructure and other projects in Latvia," she said.

Murniece said she recognized a common trend in the increasing people-to-people exchanges between China and Latvia that both countries are ready to learn more about each other.

She noted that in recent years, Latvia and China have expanded cooperation in culture, education and tourism.

In 2016, according to her, the number of Chinese tourists to Latvia rose 57.8 percent to about 20,550.

"We have many things in common," she said. "Latvians have strong interest in the Chinese art, culture and history."

In addition, Murniece expressed the hope for a Chinese culture center expected to open this year in Latvia to help more Latvian people to know more and better understand China. Endi