On March 11, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The first Belarusian-Latvian forum of twin cities will be held in Novopolotsk from March 28 to 30, the head of the ideological work department of the Novopolotsk City Executive Committee, Ekaterina Popok, told a BELTA correspondent. The forum is expected to bring together about 200 participants: heads of diplomatic missions of Latvia in Belarus and Belarus in Latvia, mayors of already twinned cities and those who are still planning to find a partner. More than 30 pairs of cities from the two countries have already 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. During the forum, 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. Novopolotsk was chosen as the venue for the forum not by chance. It has extensive experience in establishing such contacts - agreements on cooperation in the cultural and economic spheres have been concluded with 16 cities of various countries, including two cities in Latvia. -0-

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