Latvian permitted to open talks (4)

I believe the answer is:

lett

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'latvian' is the definition.

'permitted to open talks' is the wordplay.
'permitted' becomes 'let' (I've seen this before).
'to open talks' becomes 't' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'let'+'t'='LETT'

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(Other definitions for lett that I've seen before include "Balt" , "Native of Latvia" , "northerner" , "Baltic citizen" , "East European" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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