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On 4 July, the Joint Committee of the Agreement on the Abolition of Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade among the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania together with the Joint Committee of the Tri-Partite Free Trade Agreement of the Baltic States held a meeting at the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Head of MFA Foreign Trade Policy Division Albinas Zananavičius led the Lithuanian delegation to negotiate with his Latvian and Estonian counterparts: Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Economy Ilga Preimante and Estonian MFA Negotiator for Trade Andres Tropp. During the meeting, the parties discussed restrictions on pork imports imposed by Latvia. The Lithuanian and Estonian delegations stated that by introducing such unilateral measures Latvia breached its international obligations. Lithuania and Estonia submitted their joint compromise proposal with a request to review the newly introduced duty-free quotas for pork products from Lithuania and Estonia in consideration of the traditional trade volumes over 2000 – 2002. The Latvian delegation promised to hand this proposal over to the Latvian Government. The Lithuanian delegation asked their Latvian colleagues to explain the reasons for Latvian barriers imposed on flour imports. The Latvian officials promised to issue import licences for Lithuanian flour as soon as importers present goods certificates of origin and compliance with the food safety requirements. The Lithuanian and Estonian delegations expressed their concern over the closure of Veterinary Service posts at certain border crossing points. Latvia admitted that it had belatedly informed the parties about the changes at the border. According to the Latvians, veterinary specialist were withdrawn since at some of the posts they were not able to perform their duties and ensure proper veterinary and phytosanitary control of incoming goods due to technical problems. Lithuania and Estonia discussed the problems of bilateral trade in meat products and agreed that in future the Veterinary Services of both countries would co-operate more closely in order to avoid misunderstandings. Lithuania expressed its hope that Latvia would take steps to ensure the functioning of the Free Trade Agreement. In the event of Latvia’s default on its international obligations, Lithuania retains the right of resorting to countermeasures as foreseen in the bilateral agreements and the international commercial law