Mr. Max van der Stoel 

High Commissioner on National Minorities

CSCE

25 January 1994

Dear Mr. Van der Stoel,

Allow me to express my appreciation for the time that you devoted to visit Latvia earlier this month to discuss your thorough recommendations about the first reading version of the draft citizenship law.

As you are well aware of the issues that pertain to the preparation of the second reading draft of the citizenship law please, be reassured that your recommendations have been and will be taken into consideration. We will also send copies of your recommenda-tions to each of the eight Saeima Factions, prior to the second reading of this law.

The process of drafting the citizenship law must be thorough so as to create the most optimum legislation possible. For this reason, Latvia has consulted with the csce, Council of Europe and other institutions. We are still awaiting the evaluation report from the Council of Europe expert group to be received during its current Parliamentary Assembly session.

With this in mind, I request your understanding in our reserved approach in expressing our views to your submitted recommendations. We feel that we must consider all aspects of the issues relating to the citizenship law so as to make a complete and well-analyzed proposal for the second reading.

Once again, I would like to reiterate the importance which Latvia places on your recommendations and those represented by the Council of Europe expert group. We will take the opportunity to consult with you in the nearest future once concrete steps are taken in preparing the second reading.

Yours sincerely,

Georgs Andrejevs

Minister of Foreign Affairs