Latvia

Political relations

A political declaration on the Franco-Latvian Strategic Partnership, setting out the focuses for the development of our relations, was signed in Riga in May 2008. This partnership was supplemented with an open-ended action plan, approved in 2012. A new Strategic Partnership action plan was signed in Paris by the French Minister for European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau, and the Latvian Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, on 9 April 2018. In February 2017, the French and Latvian defence ministers signed a bilateral intergovernmental defence agreement in Paris.

Economic relations

France is also the 18th-largest investor in Latvia (€64.2 million) with some 60 companies employing around 2,900 people there. Two major investments stand out: Axon Cable in Daugavpils, in the production and installation of high-technology cables (430 employees), and Schneider Electric in Riga in the connected homes/home automation sector (230 employees). The Rail Baltica interconnection project has aroused the interest of French companies.

In 2017, France was Latvia’s 13th-largest trading partner. Trade volumes stood at €498 million in 2017, giving a French trade surplus of €128 million.

A France-Latvia economic forum was held in Latvia in May 2014, and a France-Latvia business forum was organized in Paris by MEDEF International in May 2018.