Prime Minister Vladimir Yermoshin will meet Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins on March 7 for what foreign policy adviser Atis Sjanits described as a "private informal breakfast in the framework of a private visit." Officials at the Belarusian Embassy in Riga described the trip as a "working visit."
Meanwhile, relations may be soured by news of a major leak of untreated sewage heading from Belarus into Latvia down the river Daugava.
Lithuania also hosted a high-level Belarusian delegation last week at which Belarus' failure to undertake border security work topped the agenda.
While in Riga Yermoshin will open the five-day Belexpo trade fair promoting Belarusian products. He is also expected to meet with the mayors of Ventspils and Daugav-pils. Riga Mayor Andris Argalis declined to confirm whether Yermoshin will be among Belarusian business people he will meet on March 8.
Most countries have refused to recognize the government of Bela-rusian President Alexander Luka-shenko since he disbanded Belarus' elected Assembly in 1996 and extended his term of office by a referendum which the country's constitutional court ruled illegal. Human rights organizations report that the Lukashenko regime's violations have included the disappearance of several opposition politicians.
Tatiana Kazak, president of the Svetanok Latvian Society of Bela-rusian Culture, said she could not speak for her organization's members concerning Yermoshin's visit. But the society does support full independence for Belarus, something Lukashenko is accused of undermining as he increasingly ties Belarus to Russia.
"People in Latvia tend to lump our nations together, but we try to fight that," said Kazak. "We have a lot of activities to preserve our culture."
The society retains the red and white flag of independent Belarus which Lukashenko abolished in 1996.
Latvia currently has one Bela-rusian primary school at which Latvian and Belarusian are the languages of instruction. Situated in Riga it receives financial and pedagogical support from the Belarusian state.
Prior to Latvia's occupation by the Soviet Union there were several Belarusian schools in Latvia, particularly in its eastern border region.
Yermoshin's visit was heralded by the news that between 20,000 and 30,000 tons of untreated waste water was flowing into Latvia along the river Daugava after an accident in the northern Belarusian city of Vitebsk. Belarusian authorities took three days to report the accident to their Latvian counterparts. Regional environmental authorities are monitoring the situation.
Latvia is not the only Baltic state considered by some to have an overly comfortable relationship with Bela-rus. The foreign ministers of Belarus and Lithuania met in Vilnius on March 6.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Oskaras Jusys said Lithuania had simplified procedures for Bela-rusians wishing to obtain Lithuanian visas and had lowered their price. In return Lithuania expects Belarus to meet its commitments to delineate and secure half of the two countries' 650-kilometer-long mutual border, he said. The work has been stipulated as a precondition for Lithuania's accession to the European Union. Belarus has completed less than a tenth of its part of the task.
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