OSCE national minorities Commissioner, Latvian Naturalization Board to hold conference on citizenship

THE HAGUE, 19 November 2008 - A conference organized by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebaek, and the Naturalization Board of the Republic of Latvia on the institution of citizenship and its development and perspectives in the Baltic countries will start in Jurmala tomorrow.

The two-day conference will bring together officials from state institutions in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia dealing with issues of citizenship and naturalization, as well as their counterparts from the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland and Norway.

"The Baltic countries have come a long way in developing their citizenship and naturalization policies," said Ambassador Knut Vollebaek. "At the same time, challenges persist and this conference is a golden opportunity for all countries to discuss how to improve the process."

"We are committed to listening to views and to improving our work," said Liga Lukso, the press secretary of the Latvian Naturalization Board. "The conference will allow us to reach out to a broader audience and to receive feedback on what we do well and on what we can do better."

The conference will be followed up by a number of workshops on practical issues relating to the naturalization process.

The Latvian Naturalization Board plans to broadcast conference proceeding live over the Internet at its website http://www.np.gov.lv/ 

The broadcast is expected to start at 10.00 local time (GMT +2 hours) on Thursday, 20 November, and will resume at 09.30 local time (GMT +2 hours) on Friday, 21 November.

For more information, please contact:

Geir Sjoeberg
Personal Adviser
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
Tel: +31 6 418 50 315 (mobile)

Liga Lukso
Press Secretary
Naturalization Board of the Republic of Latvia
Tel.: +371-67814159
E-mail: preses.sekretars@np.gov.lv