On 21 June 2021, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andris Pelšs, had a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of New Zealand, Mary Patricia Thurston, who had arrived in Latvia on a farewell visit.
Andris Pelšs thanked the Ambassador for her contributions to the strengthening of relations between Latvia and New Zealand and he commended the deepening of those relations in recent years, especially in business cooperation. The officials discussed the effects and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and they underlined the need for developing a global approach to ensure access to vaccinations.
In a discussion on cooperation in international organisations, the State Secretary and the Ambassador emphasised that Latvia and New Zealand are like-minded countries with the opportunity of cooperation in the strengthening of the international system based on multilateral rules.
Referring to the relationship between the European Union and New Zealand, Ambassador Thurston expressed hope that an EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement would be signed soon, which would also promote bilateral economic relations between Latvia and New Zealand.
As part of her farewell visit, Mary Patricia Thurston will also meet with the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima (the Latvian Parliament), Dagmāra Beitnere-Le Galla.
The Ambassador of New Zealand resides in Warsaw, Poland, and she was accredited to Latvia on 10 October 2017.