Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga to meet with Olmert, Rivlin, Livni, Nazarene Arab leaders.
By GREER FAY CASHMANlatvian president 88(photo credit: )
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga arrived in Israel on Sunday night on a three-day visit that will take her to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Nazareth.
She is due to meet with President Moshe Katsav on Monday morning. The Latvian President hosted her Israeli counterpart last year during his official visit to the Baltic countries.
Katsav will host a state dinner for Vike-Freiberga and her entourage on Monday night.
During her visit the Latvian President will meet with acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other government officials with a view to expanding the political dialogue between the two countries and strengthening bilateral ties in economics, science and culture.
Political discussions are expected to focus on global security, the general situation in the Middle East, prospects for peace and Israel's position with regard to future cooperation with the new Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Although Latvia does not have close ties with the Arab world, Vike-Freiberga has previously visited Jordan and Tunisia within the context of her participation in various international forums. She is also planning to visit Egypt in the near future.
While in Israel, she has no plans to visit the Palestinian Authority, but will meet with Arab community leaders in Nazareth.
She will also meet with Latvian expatriates at the Latvian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
In the course of Vike-Freiberga's visit, an exhibition of the lost synagogues of Latvia - an art project that was promoted in Latvian schools by Latvia's Education Ministry - will be on display ay Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem, and will be officially opened on Tuesday night by President Katsav.
Part of the exhibition was previously displayed in Tel Aviv last November at the Latvian Independence Day reception hosted by Latvian Ambassador Karlis Eihenbaums.
Vike-Freiberga is the second Latvian President to visit Israel. Guntis Ulmanis, her immediate predecessor in office, visited Israel in 1998. Accompanying Vike-Freiberga are her husband Prof. Imants Freiberg, Economics Minister KriÅ¡jÄnis Kariņš, Finance Minister Oskars Spurdziņš and Agriculture Minister MÄrtiņš Roze, as well as a 58-member delegation representing Latvia's business community.
The Latvian Historians Commission is also part of the visit, as Israel and Latvia have become close partners in historical research.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
