Arg, Kabul – His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, met with President of the Republic of Latvia, His Excellency Valdis Zalters, at the Gulkhana Palace this morning and held a joint press conference with him after the meeting.

During the conference, President Zalters reaffirmed his country's commitment to reconstruction and security in Afghanistan and said, "The people of Latvia will continue to stand by the people of Afghanistan in difficult situations."

President Karzai welcomed President Zalters to Afghanistan and said, "Afghanistan has friendly relations with Latvia . The people of Latvia have continued their assistance to Afghanistan's security and reconstruction in the past five years. They have sent their sons and daughters to Afghanistan who are currently serving at the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province of Faryab.

President Karzai thankedPresident Zalters for his country's assistance to Afghanistan and said, "I hope the friendly relations between the two countries will further strengthen."

President Zalters thanked President Karzai for the hospitality and said, "Latvia will continue its assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The progress Afghanistan is making is of huge importance to the people of Latvia, and we will try our utmost to help the Afghan people rebuild their country."

"Latvia, like Afghanistan, had started work from the scratch and now it has a strong economy after 17 years of hard work. I hope Afghanistan will also make great strides in its effort to achieve strong economic growth in the future."

For further information, please contact:

Office of the Spokesman to the President

Tel.:   00 93 797 163 355

  00 93 799 302 145 

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President