On June 3 Speaker of the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) Gundars Daudze and Vaira Paegle, Chairperson of the Saeima Europe Commission and head of the Latvian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly concluded their 2-day working visit to Washington. During his visit to Washington, Speaker Daudze and Mrs. Paegle met with Senators and Congressmen, US Administration officials, and the Latvian community. One of the main issues discussed was the Visa Waiver Program. This issue was discussed on Capitol Hill with Senators and Congressmen, as well as with Senator Jon Kyl, who has been reluctant to include new countries in the Visa Waiver Program. Additional discussions included meetings with Senator Chuck Hagel, Senator Richard Durbin's foreign affairs advisers, the House's European Affairs Commission and representatives of the Baltic Caucus. During the meetings the US reaffirmed that it considers Latvia to be a reliable transatlantic ally and highly values Latvia's participation in the mission in Afghanistan, as well as Latvia's contributions to the development of democracy in countries to the east of the EU. Energy security issues in Europe, which is of particular interested to the United States, were also discussed.