On that day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host the signing of the final documents for the demarcation of the state border between Latvia and Russia: a Demarcation Map, Description of the Border, Protocols relating to Boundary Markers, Catalogue of the Boundary Marker Coordinates and Altitudes, and Final Protocol.
The documents will be signed by the Co-Chairs of the Demarcation Commission – Irina Mangule, Consul General of Latvia in Saint Petersburg, and Alexey Obukhov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
The Foreign Ministry’s State Secretary, Andrejs Pildegovičs, will preside over the event which will take place during the last (33rd) meeting of the Demarcation Commission, which has been working on the issue for more than a decade.
After that, the documents will be transferred to the Governments of both countries for approval, and, following an exchange of notes, the demarcation of the border will be fully completed.
The Joint Latvia-Russia Demarcation Commission was established under Article 5 of the Treaty between the Republic of Latvia and the Russian Federation on the State Border of Latvia and Russia of 27 March 2007. The first meeting of the Commission took place in Daugavpils on 23 September 2009.
The issue of where the border should run has not been without problems, not the least of which concerns the Abrene district, formerly a part if Latvia during the first independence period but annexed by the Russian Federal Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union in 1945. It is now known as the Pytalovsky district of Russia and following the signing ceremony, will remain so for good.
