On January 12, 2015, Xu Yibo, deputy secretary general of the Municipal Government of Shanghai and secretary of the Party Committee of the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Lu Yongjie, chairman of Bright Food Group, and their entourage arrived in Latvia. Accompanied by Yang Guoqiang, the Chinese ambassador to Latvia, they were given a cordial welcome by the Latvian president.

Latvian President Andris Bērziņš said that Latvia agrees with the strategic vision put forward by China concerning the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and is willing to join as an active participant its great effort to build a grand communications and logistics thoroughfare in the Eurasian region. He pointed out that Latvia has enjoyed many advantages in the field of agriculture, and expressed the hope that powerful food businesses from both countries would engage in closer cooperation, thereby giving a big boost to the development of cooperative relations between the two countries.

On the afternoon, the delegation also received a warm welcome from Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, who said during the meeting that in addition to agriculture, Latvia enjoyed tremendous advantages in terms of communications and logistics, and expressed the hope that the effort to build the Silk Road Economic Belt would significantly boost the logistic services in the Eurasian region.

Xu Yibo expressed his thanks for the warm welcomes granted by the Latvian president and prime minister, adding that there are a great many areas where the two countries could cooperate with excellent prospects. Lu Yongjie also introduced how Bright Food Group has been running its business operations to the president and the prime minister during the meetings. (By Wang Lili)