Latvian Government - 07.23.2001

 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The dialogue with Jewish organisations is important to Latvia

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Mr Indulis Berzins has received a letter from the Jewish organisation NCSJ Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia from the USA, in which the position of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Estonia to support an adequate evaluation of the Holocaust in the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance is highly appreciated. "Your principled attitude to the issue once more proves the will of the Baltic States to promote peace among all the nations and to overcome the painful heritage of the past," says in the letter.

This is the answer to the common letter of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Estonia to the American Jewish Committee, in which the support for an adequate evaluation of the Holocaust at the forthcoming anti-racism conference in the Republic of South Africa is expressed. At the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of NATO candidate countries in Tallinn in the beginning of July, this position was agreed with the Ministers of other Central and Eastern European countries.

Today's policy of fighting against racism and xenophobia should be based on an adequate evaluation of history, including the Holocaust. An essential part of this policy is the eradication of anti-Semitism. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia considers it necessary to continue the important dialogue with Jewish organisations on this issue.