On the afternoon of June 11, 2002, President Jiang Zemin met with Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins.

On the part of Latvian government, Berzins extended a warm welcome to President Jiang for his visit. He recalled with pleasure his meeting with President Jiang when he led the Latvian delegation to attend the Fourth World Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995. He said that the successful conference has enabled him to acquire a better knowledge of China.

Jiang expressed his thanks to the warm and considerate reception of the Latvian government. He said that he has seen during the current visit that Latvia has found its own way of development following 10 years of efforts. The economy of Latvia has grown rapidly and the living standards of Latvian people have been raised constantly. At the same time, ties between China and Latvia have grown steadily and healthily. Jiang said that China is ready to upgrade its relations with Latvia on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Berzins said that the Latvian government highly appreciates China's stance that all the countries in the world are equal despite their sizes, attaches great importance to the international status and role of China, and gives priority to the active development of relations with China in its foreign policy. Now that China has been the biggest trading partner of Latvia in Asia, Latvia hopes both sides can make full use of Latvia's geographical position and port advantage to boom the cooperation in the fields of transit trade and transportation.

Jiang said that it is true there are great potentials to be tapped in developing trade and economic cooperation between China and Latvia. Latvia is an important passage linking Europe and Asia, and Chinese companies are experienced and capable in port engineering, and willing to participate in the construction of Latvian ports. China is implementing its strategy of developing the western region and encouraging foreign entrepreneurs to invest in infrastructure, ecological construction and resource tapping in the western region. Latvian businesses are welcome to invest and do business in China. Jiang said that he believes the friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields can go a step forward as long as each side taps potentials continuously and gives full play to its own advantages.