Brussels, 19/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Latvia meets all the criteria for its nationals to join the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) for travelling to the United States (see EUROPE 9709). The Latvian foreign ministry announced on Thursday 18 September 2008 that officials from the two countries had finalised a deal to increase cooperation in tackling serious crime and terrorism, a criterion for joining the VWP. All that remains to be done is to formally sign the deal. Latvia is the first of the seven EU Member States that have entered VWP talks with the United States (namely the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary and Malta) to have successfully reached a deal. Latvia still needs to meet the condition of reducing the number of visa requests refused for Latvians applying to visit the US to less than 10%, as required by US rules. Only 11.8% of Latvians requesting visas in 2007 were rejected, which means it should not be difficult for Latvia to meet the criterion. (B.C.)