On 8 February 2023, in Riga, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, welcomed an official visit from the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Communities of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Carla Barbosa. The Ministers discussed the development potential of bilateral relations between Latvia and Guinea-Bissau, especially in economy, the security situation in Western Africa, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and cooperation between the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.
During their conversation, the Ministers exchanged views on the potential for cooperation in agriculture, education, information technologies and tourism, and on joint work in international organisations.
The Ministers informed one another about their positions concerning Russia’s war in Ukraine and they agreed that it had a global impact. Suzi Barbosa underlined that the soaring prices of grain and mineral fertilisers were leaving a significant impact on many African countries, including Guinea-Bissau. The high mineral fertiliser prices are causing substantial loss to its agricultural sector. The President of Guinea-Bissau is the only African leader who has visited Ukraine since the war broke out. Foreign Minister Barbosa underlined that the President had gone on a visit in his capacity of the Chairman of ECOWAS, so that the members of the community would gain a first-hand perspective of events in Ukraine.
Suzi Carla Barbosa is the first official from Guinea-Bissau to visit Latvia since the establishment of diplomatic relations on 14 July 2021. As part of her visit, she had a meeting with the President of Latvia, Egils Levits, and the Speaker of the Saeima (the Latvian Parliament), Eduards Smiltēns. The Minister was also given a tour of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia and laid flowers at the Freedom Monument, as well as visiting Riga Technical University. At the National Library of Latvia, the Minister presented a donation to the People’s Bookshelf.
Guinea-Bissau currently holds the presidency of ECOWAS, which is one of the most important formats of regional integration in Africa and a significant partner to the European Union. The EU-ECOWAS Ministerial meeting took place on 6 February.
The visit also featured a discussion titled “Women, Peace and Security”, at which Latvia was represented by the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gunda Reire.