On Friday, 1 April, during the meeting between members of the Latvian delegation to the Baltic Assembly (BA) and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovkis, it was emphasised that the Baltic States have to make progress in common energy and infrastructure development projects; for example, they need to decide on the location of the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and on implementing the Rail Baltic project.

On Monday, 28 March, MPs from various committees of the Saeima met with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General, in NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, in order to discuss topical issues on the Alliance’s agenda.

On Friday, 25 March, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, participated at the wreath laying ceremony at the Monument of Freedom and gave her address to commemorate the victims of the communist genocide.

In a letter to Ojārs Kalniņš, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, thanks him for taking part in the visit of the Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the U.S. in February 2011.

On Friday, 18 March, during the meeting with Andris Piebalgs, the EU Commissioner for Development, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, emphasised that our country has to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by Latvia’s upcoming presidency of the EU and by the Treaty of Lisbon.

On Thursday, 10 March, the Saeima and the Janis Rozentāls Art High School began their cooperation project, the Portrait Gallery, which enables young artists to draw portraits of MPs and sketches of situations during plenary sittings.

In order to put an end to bloody clashes between opposition forces and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, closer cooperation between NATO and the European Union is needed, thinks Imants Lieģis, Chairman of the European Affairs Committee and Head of the Latvian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.