Latvia's relations with China are at their best time in history, and the Baltic nation seeks to further develop such vigorous relations with the world's second largest economy, Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis has said.[Special coverage]
Kucinskis made the remarks in a recent interview with Chinese news media ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Latvia, underlining the prospects for an upgrade in bilateral ties.
During Li's three-day stay in Latvia, which starts on Friday, he is also scheduled to meet with leaders from 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.
Speaking on the current state of the Latvia-China relations, Kucinskis said regular political dialogues and frequent exchanges of high-level visits between the two countries have generated strong momentum for bilateral cooperation.
"The economic cooperation between the two countries signals optimism for further development, but Latvia still needs to increase exports to China and attract more Chinese investment," the prime minister said.
China is the largest trading partner to Latvia in east Asia and the two countries have tremendous potential for cooperation in trade, transit transport, logistics, education, culture and tourism, according to Kucinskis.
"Latvia has an ideal geographical location, with three ice-free ports, which is a prominent advantage for cooperation in logistics and transport," he said. "Latvia is also one of the leading countries in the world on information technology, with very good signal coverage and network speed. For Chinese companies specializing in information technology, Latvia is a gateway to the European market."
In electronic commerce, for example, Latvia can provide China with an online trading platform, as well as online services in transport, logistics and finance, Kucinskis said.
The prime minister also hailed people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Latvia and China.
"The Latvian people are getting to know China. It is no longer a remote, mysterious and strange country to us. We are seeing more and more objective news stories on China in Latvian media, and the number of Chinese tourists to Latvia is also increasing," he said.
Kucinskis said he looks forward to his Chinese counterpart's visit and hoped that it would boost the two countries' cooperation and dialogues in economy, education, science and culture, calling it a milestone of great significance to the entire CEE region.
On Li's planned meeting with 16 CEE leaders, Kucinskis stressed that Latvia was honored to host the fifth China-CEE summit and coordinate the "16+1" cooperation in logistics.
"The fact that this is already the fifth edition of the '16+1' summit fully demonstrates the great potential of this mechanism in boosting economic growth," he said.
Europe and China can get even closer to each other by enhancing links between the European Union (EU)'s Trans-European Transport Network policy and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which is crucial for regional economic development, he added.
The Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was brought up by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.
"As the world is facing a slowdown in economic growth -- only 3.2percent expected for this year -- we should look for more opportunities for cooperation under existing international frameworks, such as the China-CEE framework," Kucinskis said. "Our goal is to leverage our strengths as CEE countries to boost cooperation with China."
Moreover, he believed that the "16+1" platform would continue to expand and play a more significant role in the future, as it would also have an impact on China-EU cooperation.
Latvia wants to get involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, and is looking to sign a memorandum of understanding with China on collaboration based on the initiative during the "16+1" summit, said Kucinskis.
He revealed that the document covered a wide range of sectors including transport, logistics, infrastructure, trade, finance, technology and humanity.
He said that within the Belt and Road Initiative framework, Latvia, as an important transit point, could provide transport and logistics services via its railways, harbors and airports to ship Chinese goods to Scandinavian countries, and vice-versa, a project that the Latvian government is very much interested in.
Kucinskis spoke highly of a China-Europe railway freight route that was recently put into trial operation, linking Riga and Yiwu -- a vibrant manufacturing hub in east China.
"The first cargo train from China is expected to arrive at Riga Central Station on Nov. 5," he said. "This is of historical significance to not only the rail industry of Latvia, but also the relationship between the two countries."
