On March 28, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The First Belarusian-Latvian Twin Cities Forum "Prospects for the Development of Belarusian-Latvian Regional and Twinning Cooperation" in Novopolotsk will bring together about 300 participants, the department of ideological work of the Novopolotsk City Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. The forum's work begins on March 28. Today, Novopolotsk will welcome representatives of delegations from the heads of diplomatic missions of Latvia in Belarus and Belarus in Latvia, mayors of already twinned cities, and those who are only intending to find a partner. The main events of the forum will take place on March 29. On this day, the official opening of the forum, the signing of cooperation agreements, and a plenary session will be held, at which the chairman of the Belarusian organization "Twinning Cities" Boris Batura, the Ambassador of Belarus to Latvia Alexander Gerasimenko, and the head of the Society for the Support of Economic Relations between Latvia and Belarus Alfreds Cepanis will speak. Also, representatives of city administrations will meet and discuss options and directions for cooperation in thematic sections with the participation of representatives of ministries and departments. The work of the sections will be carried out in three areas: topical issues of interregional cooperation of local authorities; cooperation of tourist complexes and cultural sites of Belarus and Latvia; trade and economic cooperation of Belarusian and Latvian regions, problems of their solution, and prospects. In addition, the day's program includes participants getting acquainted with investment projects of the Vitebsk region, visiting an exhibition of regional enterprises, and sightseeing tours of Novopolotsk for participants. Currently, more than 30 pairs of cities from the two countries have concluded cooperation agreements, including 19 with the participation of cities from the Vitebsk region, and more than ten pairs (five with representatives of the region) are in the process of establishing contacts. In addition, another 27 administrative units of Latvia have expressed a desire to find twin cities in Belarus. Novopolotsk was chosen as the venue for the forum not by chance. It has extensive experience in establishing such contacts - cooperation agreements in the cultural and economic spheres have been concluded with 16 cities of various countries, including two cities in Latvia. -0-

BELTA