Riga, Sept 19 (LETA) - The implementation of the Eastern Border Action Plan is up to our own officials, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said at the conference "Where are you going, border region? A vision for the development of the eastern border region in 2040".

The president said that there is a lot of talk about the importance of the eastern border and a lot of efforts to strengthen it, but at the same time there is a situation where there is a dual understanding of what the eastern border is. On the one hand, it is a region where economic activity is lagging behind the national average, people are leaving and economic activity is drying up.

On the other hand, the president sees highly motivated people on every regional visit who do not think that everything is bad in their region. "They are very motivated, they do not count the gross domestic product, they do not compare it with national or European indicators, they just take care of their farm, their company, their employees on a daily basis, and they say that it is not so easy to find employees," Rinkevics summarized, noting that banks and financial institutions see Latvia only 70 or 100 kilometers from Riga and there are no loans or business incentives available there.

He said that people on the eastern border still maintain culture and art. At the same time, for example, in Rezekne municipality, in order to develop and preserve Latgalian culture, the Latgalian language, people turn not to the State Culture Capital Fund, but to the Rural Support Service and compete with farms. "Is this right? Why cannot our cultural capital fund allocate some funding for these activities?" asked the president.

The president assessed that this did not require a plan or any instructions, but common sense. "Unfortunately, I have to give all due respect to the plan - it is a very well written document, but in the end it is up to our own people, our responsible officials, to implement it," the president said, stressing that this is where "quite interesting twists and turns" start, due to lack of money or other problems.

"At the end of the day, it is a question of attitude that worries people on the eastern border," the president said, pointing out that the problem started in Riga and often continues in many responsible institutions.

According to the president, one of the key issues in the development and preservation of the border area is not only military and security issues, but also education and access to education, including higher education.

He also considered cooperation between universities and businesses to be very important in the border area. "It is very important that at least one full-fledged higher education institution remains in Latgale - in this case it is Daugavpils University (...). I think it should be made clear once and for all that we are not doing any more experiments with universities and Daugavpils University is staying," said the president. In his opinion, there should be a clear commitment to invest, to review the criteria, understanding that the development of the border region is unique.

The president also added that when developing the Program at School concept, it is important to look at how to balance the aspects of quality of education and access to education.

As reported, the Saeima is today discussing an action plan for the growth and security of Latvia's eastern border regions.