On Friday 13 May, Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis opened the conference of the Baltic Assembly “Security in the Baltic Region”.
Addressing the participants of the conference, M. Kučinskis pointed out that, in view of current challenges in Europe and in the world, as well as continuing the initiatives launched by the partners, a priority is to work purposefully to strengthen security in the region.
He stressed that in the public space, the security situation in the Baltic Region is most often associated with preparations for the Warsaw NATO Summit.
“It is understandable that the Baltic States pay much attention to the upcoming summit – the decisions taken at the summit will directly improve the security situation in our region and determine what our security will be like in the long-term,” emphasized M. Kučinskis.
The Prime Minister also stressed that Latvia aims at achieving the presence of the allies in the amount of at least one battalion in each Baltic State. It is also important that each Baltic State is responsible for management of the national battalion.
From the NATO Summit we expect decisions regarding strengthening of practical and political cooperation with Sweden and Finland. It is underlined that the importance of cooperation on security issues has considerably increased, taking into account the challenges that the region faces.
At the same time, he said that the summit should not avoid discussions about Russia.
"We all want to achieve predictability of Russia's actions. Therefore, the avoidance of talking with Russia in the long term is not a solution. We expect that Russia returns to compliance with international standards and fulfilment of the Minsk agreement. Until then, the cooperation in the usual manner is not possible,” said M. Kučinskis.
Andrejs Vaivars
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
Phone: 29228678
E-mail: Andrejs.Vaivars@mk.gov.lv