On 29 June 2020, the Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Political Director Jānis Mažeiks, met with the Ambassador of Sweden, Annika Jagander, who has completed her term in office as Ambassador to Latvia.
The parties praised the close and extensive cooperation between Latvia and Sweden. A number of visits by high-ranking figures have taken place during the Ambassador’s tenure, including the visit to Riga by Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel in honour of Latvia’s centennial. 2019 saw the establishment of the Latvian-Swedish Cooperation Fund – a bilateral instrument to support the implementation of cooperation and exchange programmes in order to promote the spread of information and knowledge as well as opportunities for people-to people cooperation between Latvia and Sweden.
Jānis Mažeiks underlined that the intensive dialogue reflects the close and long-lasting cooperation between the two countries. In view of the broad representation of Swedish companies in Latvia and intensive business relations, the Latvian Foreign Ministry's Political Director expressed interest in developing cooperation in areas with high value-added, and he named as examples the sectors of transport and digitalisation, infrastructure and innovation.
In the course of the conversation, Jānis Mažeiks thanked Sweden for its contribution to education, highlighting Sweden’s support for professionals of public administration, civil society and academic circles from the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy region, the Western Balkans and Central Asian countries attending the Intensive Programme in European Law and Economics at the Riga Graduate School of Law.
Ambassador Annika Jagander expressed satisfaction with the time spent in Latvia and she underlined in particular the year of Latvia’s centennial, which had offered her an excellent opportunity to gain an in-depth knowledge of Latvia's culture and history.