§ Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Latvian Foreign Minister about the development of democracy in that country and the position of the ethnic Russian minority; and if he will make a statement.
293W
§ Mr. Douglas HoggAt the EC Troika ministerial meeting with Baltic Foreign Ministers on 19 April, we and our partners acknowledged the progress on political reform which Latvia had made. We also reiterated the importance we attach to the upholding of human rights. We do not accept Russian allegations of human rights abuses in Latvia, which have been shown to be unfounded by CSCE and UN fact-finding missions. However, Latvia needs to find fair formulae on citizenship and non-citizens' rights. We have urged Latvia to implement soon the recommendations of the report on Latvia by the CSCE high commissioner on national minorities.
§ Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports his Department has received on the conduct of the recent elections in Latvia; what were the nature of such reports; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe elections were the first to have been held since Latvia regained independence. We are pleased that they were conducted successfully. Her Majesty's embassy in Riga has reported that the Council of Europe mission observing the elections concluded that they were free, democratic and independent.