From 26 to 28 May, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica visited Moldova as part of a fact-finding mission for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (hereinafter – the Assembly) in preparation for a monitoring report. The aim of the working visit was to assess Moldova’s compliance with the commitments it undertook upon joining the Council of Europe in the areas of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

To reorganise the national crisis management system, the Saeima on Thursday, 29 May, adopted amendments to several laws in the third and final reading. The amendments designate the government as the primary authority responsible for crisis management and the mitigation of threats, and provide for the establishment of a Crisis Management Centre.

Micro-enterprises will now be eligible to benefit from the simplified application of value added tax (VAT), according to amendments to the Micro-Enterprise Tax Law adopted by the Saeima in the third and final reading on Thursday, 29 May.

On Wednesday, 28 May, Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa welcomed the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Woo Won-shik, to the Latvian Parliament to discuss opportunities for closer cooperation, particularly in the field of security. As Speaker Mieriņa emphasised, we are living in a rapidly changing and intense era, and cooperation in the area of security among like-minded partners such as Latvia and South Korea is especially important.

“Closer cooperation is in all our interests,” emphasised Deputy Speaker of the Saeima Antoņina Ņenaševa on Wednesday, 28 May, as she welcomed the Chair of the Defence Committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, to the Saeima. The meeting placed particular emphasis on strengthening defence partnerships and fostering cooperation between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

"The close cooperation between Latvia and Finland, as well as our shared experience and understanding of regional and geopolitical threats, significantly contribute to regional security and strengthen our joint capabilities to counter threats," said Ainars Latkovskis, Chair of the National Security Committee of the Saeima, welcoming Mats Löfström, Chair of the Intelligence Oversight Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Finland, to the Saeima.

On Friday, 23 May, the Saeima will host a parliament and NGO forum dedicated to our country’s vision for the future, entitled “Latvia 2050 – Let's Build It Together!”.

On Tuesday, May 20, Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa, members of the Presidium and members of the Saeima visited the military base "Ceri", where they met with representatives of the Canadian contingent and learned about their development plans.

On Tuesday, 20 May, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, met with Mihai Popșoi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, to discuss Moldova’s path towards European integration and the challenges that may affect the Moldovan parliamentary elections scheduled for this autumn.

Cooperation between the Baltic States, Poland and the Nordic countries is becoming increasingly close in the face of the threat posed by Russia, said Edmunds Cepurītis, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima, on Tuesday, 20 May. A meeting of the chairs of the European Affairs committees of the parliaments of the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Poland took place at the Saeima.