With a view to promoting cooperation between legal professionals from Latvia and the Republic of Korea and the provision of legal support, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in an official ceremony held at the Korean Bar Association in Seoul on 6 November 2018. The document was signed by Ambassador Pēteris Vaivars on the part of Latvia, and President of the Korean Bar Association, Hyun Kim, on the part of Korea.

The signing of the memorandum is an important step, since the document not only seeks to promote mutual exchange between the two countries on legal matters, but also envisages the organisation of training programmes, the provision of the required legal assistance in trade operations, and experience sharing, said Latvia Embassy spokesperson. The parties see the memorandum as a major cornerstone in bilateral cooperation between Latvia and the Republic of Korea.

Separately from this, with an another view to strengthening educational cooperation between Latvia and South Korea, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in an official ceremony at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) recently. From the Latvian side, Ambassador Pēteris Vaivars signed the document for the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia, and from the Korean side, the signatory was Hyun Taek Kim, Vice President of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is a significant milestone, since the document envisages not only the promotion of academic and cultural exchanges between HUFS and higher education institutions in Latvia, but also of learning the Latvian language and doing Baltic studies in Korea. The memorandum supports the possibility of opening a Baltic Studies programme as part of the curriculum offered at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

As reported earlier, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies has been running two new optional courses since 2 March 2018 – “Baltic Studies” and “The Latvian Language” – which have attracted keen interest among students. Ambassador Pēteris Vaivars is certain that the new subjects and the signing of the memorandum is yet another proof of the steadily increasing interest among Koreans in the Baltic region and their commitment to ever closer cooperation with Latvia.