10 April, Vitebsk /Vladimir Matveev - BELTA/. An agreement between the governments of Belarus and Latvia on the regime of the Belarusian-Latvian state border has been signed in Vitebsk, a BELTA correspondent reports.
From the Belarusian side, the document was signed by the Chairman of the State Border Committee, Alexander Boechko, and from the Latvian side, by the Chief of the State Border Guard, Normunds Garbars.
As reported by the State Border Committee, the agreement establishes the procedure for maintaining the state border, its crossing by persons and vehicles, the movement of goods, as well as the settlement of border incidents.
The parties undertake to carry out economic and other activities on the state border and in the border area without detriment to the neighboring party, to cooperate in the field of environmental protection and rational use of natural resources, and to conduct joint measures to prevent environmental disasters and natural calamities.
The document also defines the main areas of cooperation between the border services. The institution of border plenipotentiaries has been established for the prompt resolution of issues related to ensuring the regime of the state border and settling border incidents.
A joint Belarusian-Latvian commission on state border issues will be formed, which will be tasked with controlling its maintenance, organizing inspections of the state border passage, and coordinating the activities of competent state administration bodies on relevant issues.
"With the concluded agreement, Belarus and Latvia confirm the absence of territorial issues between the two states and the current passage of the state border on the ground, and define the procedure for resolving issues of the Belarusian-Latvian border passage by international legal means," the border agency noted.
They also informed that bilateral cooperation between the border services of Belarus and Latvia is actively developing. Currently, a joint project "Improving the Efficiency of Canine Services of Border Agencies" is being implemented, financed under the EU programme for cross-border cooperation "Latvia - Lithuania - Belarus". Plans include the development of international technical assistance projects in other areas as well. The signed agreement also opens up new opportunities in this sphere.