On 20 February 2024, Riga hosted a meeting of the Directors General for Development Cooperation of the Baltic States, during which the officials discussed the objectives of development cooperation policy for 2024 and 2025, digitalisation to promote development in partner countries, ways for cooperation between the development cooperation agencies of the Baltic States, as well as further support to Ukraine.
Alise Balode, Head of the Directorate of Economic Relations, Trade and Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed her Estonian and Lithuanian colleagues of the geographical priorities of Latvia in development cooperation: the EU Eastern Partnership countries (in particular, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova); the Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan); and African countries. Support for Belarusian civil society also plays an important role in Latvia’s development cooperation. Officials also shared their experiences on the implementation of development cooperation projects in Africa.
In a working session on digitalisation, Alise Balode highlighted its importance in Latvia’s development cooperation: around a quarter of all projects implemented included the elements of digitalisation in 2022 and 2023. In this field, Latvian experts carried out projects in all three priority regions. The Head of the Directorate also mentioned Latvia’s accession to the EU’s Digital for Development (D4D) Hub and encouraged the Baltic States to cooperate more closely in that format as well.
Referring to consultations of the Baltic Development Cooperation Agencies held in Riga this past 25 and 26 January, the Directors-General presented the work of their national development cooperation institutions. A representative from the Latvian Development Cooperation Agency, established under the Central Finance and Contracts Agency (CFLA) since 2022, also attended the meeting.
In a discussion on support to Ukraine, the Directors-General agreed on close coordination in future. Alise Balode informed her Baltic States colleagues about Latvia’s current support to Ukraine and involvement in the reconstruction of Chernihiv. “The Baltic States are staunch supporters of Ukraine. Helping Ukraine is a long-term priority for the Latvian Government. We call for closer coordination and joint Baltic projects in Ukraine,” Alise Balode said.
