Agreement Between The Republic Of Latvia And The Portuguese Republic On Co-Operation In The Fields Of Education, Culture And Science And Technology

The Republic of Latvia and the Portuguese Republic hereinafter referred to as "the Contracting Parties";

— desiring to develop co-operation between their two countries in the fields of education, culture, science and technology, youth and sports;

— being convinced that exchanges and co-operation in the fields of education, culture, science and technology, youth and sports as well as in other fields contribute to a better mutual knowledge and understanding between the Portuguese and Latvian people;

— resolved to respect the principles of the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe concluded on 1 August 1975 and the Paris Charter for a New Europe adopted on 21 November 1990;

have agreed as follows:

Article 1

The Contracting Parties, guided by the principles of equality and mutual benefit, shall encourage and facilitate exchanges and co-operation between the two countries in the fields of education, culture, science and technology, youth and sports and provide appropriate opportunities for contacts and joint activities among the organisations, institutions and persons active in these fields.

Article 2

The Contracting Parties shall promote the development of relations between their two countries in the field of education by:

a) encouraging and facilitating direct co-operation, contacts and exchanges between people, institutions and organisations concerned with education in the two countries as well as the mutual knowledge of both systems of education;

b) encouraging and facilitating co-operation and exchanges in teaching methods, curricula development and examinations;

c) exchanging information and documentation as well as pedagogical and educational methodology materials;

d) studying the possibilities for reciprocal recognition of certificates, qualifications, university degrees and academic titles.

Article 3

The Contracting Parties shall encourage co-operation in the fields of science and technology development and shall promote the conclusion of direct agreements on co-operation in the fields of science, technology and research between appropriate oganisations and institutions of both countries.

Article 4

The Contracting Parties shall provide scholarships and promote other means to facilitate study and research.

Article 5

The Contracting Parties shall encourage and facilitate direct contacts in the fields of literature, visual arts, performing arts, libraries and archives, museums and in other cultural areas.

Article 6

The Contracting Parties will encourage direct co-operation in the field of cinema, audiovisual and multimedia between the correspondent institutions of the two countries.

This co-operation shall include namely organisation of film weeks, interchange of experts and researchers, training and collaboration between multimedia producers.

Article 7

The Contracting Parties shall encourage the exchange of information and publications among cultural institutions of the two countries.

Article 8

The Contracting Parties shall ensure that measures to prohibit and punish illegal trafficking in works of art, documents and other objects of historic or archaeological value are adopted.

Article 9

The Contracting Parties shall encourage direct co-operation between mass media organisations in the two countries, in particular those which follow public service missions.

Article 10

The Contracting Parties shall support and encourage co-operation in the youth area, namely by the exchange of information and documentation, with the aim of deepening the knowledge of the youth realities in the two countries.

Both Parties shall encourage contacts between young people and direct co-operation between youth organisations of the two countries.

Article 11

The Contracting Parties shall promote co-operation in the field of sports between Government Organisations with the aim of approving bilateral sporting co-operation programs.

Article 12

Within the terms of the laws and regulations in force in its territory, each Contracting Party shall grant to the other every reasonable facility for the entry, stay and departure of persons, and for the importation and subsequent reexportation of the material and equipment necessary for carrying out the programmes or exchanges which may be established in accordance with this Agreement.

Article 13

Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall, whenever necessary or at request of either Party, meet as Mixed Commission to review developments relating to this Agreement.

Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall agree on the principles of the Mixed Commission’s work.

Article 14

This Agreement shall not in any way prejudice the rights and obligations of existing and future bilateral or multilateral agreements and shall have no effect on the rights and obligations of the Parties derived from such agreements or other international agreements to which they may or will be a Party.

Article 15

This Agreement shall enter into force at the date of the last notification of the accomplishment of each Party’s constitutional requirements.

Article 16

This Agreement shall remain in force for a period of five years. It shall there after be automatically renewed for a successive period of five years unless denounced in writing through the diplomatic channels by either Party six months prior to the expiry of any one period.

In case of denunciation of this Agreement each programme of exchange, understanding or project initiated on the basis of this Agreement and still in progress, shall remain valid until its completion.

Each Contracting Party may request in writing amendment of all or parts of this Agreement. Any amendment that has been agreed to by the Contracting Parties shall enter into force in accordance with article 15 of the present Agreement.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorised, have signed this Agreement.

Done in duplicate in Lisbon on the 17th October of 2000 in the Latvian, Portuguese, English languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of any divergency of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.

For the Republic For the Portuguese

of Latvia Republic