1. The groundwork has been laid to facilitate the establishment of direct flights to Latvia, a gateway to the Baltic Sea region.

2. At the Republic of Korea-Latvia meeting on air services held in Riga, Latvia, on April 5 and 6, the ROK government delegation, comprised of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, initialed an ROK-Latvia air services agreement and agreed with the Latvian side to set the number of weekly flights between the two countries at three.

※ The ROK and Latvian head delegates to the meeting were Director for Economic and Legal Affairs Kim Byung-jun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of the International Air Transport Division Kim Jung-hee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; and Director of the Department of Air Transport Arnis Muiznieks of the Ministry of Transport, respectively.

* The air services agreement is a treaty between two countries that stipulates the scope and terms of international air transport services, serving as the legal basis for the operation of flights by airlines of the two countries.

° Accordingly, airlines that apply to operate ROK-Latvia flights can run up to three such direct flights a week.

3. The two sides agreed that until such direct flights are launched, they will have airlines of not only the ROK and Latvia but also third countries to take part in the relevant code-sharing arrangement, allowing Koreans to travel to Latvia on various code-sharing flights.

4. The ROK-Latvia direct flights, if and when established pursuant to the agreement reached at the meeting, is expected to enhance convenience of Koreans and accommodate air service needs of neighboring Northeast Asian countries without direct flights to Latvia, thereby helping the ROK preempt the air transport market in Northeast Asia.

* unofficial translation