VITEBSK, 22 April (BelTA) – Kraslava Municipality of Latvia is interested in joint investment projects with Vitebsk Oblast, Kraslava Mayor Gunars Upenieks said at the opening of the exhibition of Lithunian painters in Vitebsk on 21 April, BelTA has learned. Cultural cooperation has always been a peculiar way to expand economic relations, Gunars Upenieks said. “Our businessmen are interested in various investment projects in Vitebsk Oblast and are ready to cooperate,” he stressed and added that the main obstacle is the lack of information regarding promising initiatives. Both parties are eager to join efforts in order to remove this obstacle in the near future. In January 2011 Vitebsk Oblast and Kraslava Municipality signed an agreement on cultural cooperation. This agreement gave an impetus to the development of bilateral relations between the two regions. Within the framework of the agreement the exhibitions of famous Latvian painters opened in Vitebsk and Verkhnedvinsk on 21 April. Moreover, in 2011 Latvian folk art groups will partake in the international music and song festivals in Postavy, Braslav, Dubrovno. Latvian craftsmen will take part in the Slavonic Bazaar International Art Festival in Vitebsk. Amateur artists and painters from Vitebsk Oblast were invited to take part in various cultural events in Kraslava Municipality. Moreover, the Days of Latgalia in Vitebsk is one of the biggest cultural and economic projects which is set to unite both regions. This event is expected to take place in 2012 for the first time.

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