On 21 May 2021, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andris Pelšs, had a farewell conversation with the Ambassador of the United Kingdom, Keith Shannon, as he neared the end of his posting.
The State Secretary and the Ambassador discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries and cooperation in the security sector, where the United Kingdom remains a reliable partner. Both Andris Pelšs and the British Ambassador agreed that during Brexit, Latvia and the UK have been cooperating successfully to see that the Latvian diaspora in the UK and British citizens in Latvia are informed about any changes taking effect.
State Secretary Andris Pelšs underlined that regardless of the UK having left the European Union, the country remains a close partner to Latvia, with whom to explore new areas of cooperation and maintain a close and direct dialogue bilaterally as well as in regional and other international formats.
In their discussion, the officials also noted that this year has special meaning in the relations between the two countries since it marks the centenary of diplomatic relations between Latvia and the United Kingdom.
Keith Shannon has been accredited to Latvia since 6 June 2017.