By their very nature, state visits are usually important events guaranteed to grab the headlines, dpa reported.
But on the international scale of power-broking summit meetings, the state visit Monday of President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan to Latvia probably does not rank near the top.
Yet while the international news media may have skipped coverage of the visit in favour of events such as the world economic crisis, natural disasters and the Middle Eastern peace process, the visit of the Tajik leader at least managed to replace nappies, bottles and the price of pushchairs as the top subject of conversation at the Viljandes nursery in the Latvian capital, Riga.
"Sorry I'm late," said a succession of toddler-toting mothers and fathers as they arrived for the weekly session involving song, dance and fun with bouncy balls.
"That's alright," came the reply, "we all got stuck too, thanks to the Tajik president."
"Don't bother driving anywhere near the castle," said one young mother. "There are police and Tajiks everywhere."
"Maybe George Bush is coming back to Latvia, too," laughed another, referring to the visit of the former US president in 2005 for a NATO summit which brought Riga to a standstill and saw residents warned to stay away from their windows or risk being shot by snipers.
Other parents wondered aloud how much the visit was costing taxpayers at a time when the Latvian government is imposing swingeing cuts in public services.
With places at kindergartens much sought-after in the recession- hit Baltic state, many parents were of the opinion that entertaining Rahmon was a waste of money.
But while Riga's future taxpayers crawled across the floor and played with beanbags, ten minutes' walk away Latvian President Valdis Zatlers welcomed his Tajik counterpart to Riga Castle.
The two presidents later signed a joint statement which expressed their desire to work together on issues including "avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on incomes and on capital double taxation."
They also condemned international terrorism and said they wanted peace in Afghanistan.
Rahmon's visit is the first state visit to Latvia since Zatlers took office in 2007.
Last year Zatlers underwent a lengthy tour of Central Asia largely aimed at encouraging business links between the two very different former Soviet republics, but Tajikistan was left off the itinerary, so instead an invitation was extended for the Tajik leader to visit Latvia.
In contrast to Zatlers' relatively short tenure, Rahmon has been in power since 1992 and succesfully changed the Tajik constitution by means of a controversial referendum to allow him to continue in office after serving two terms as president.
With Lavia's Pesident Zatlers currently threatening to call a referendum on dissolving parliament unless the Latvian parliament adopts constitutional changes he is demanding by March 31, the two presidents may have more to discuss over Monday evening's scheduled state banquet than even they thought likely.