On 5 July 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Margus Tsahkna, is coming to Latvia on a working visit. This will be the first incoming visit by a foreign minister of another country to be hosted by Baiba Braže. The working visit will focus on bilateral economic and security cooperation, as well as cooperation in international organisations and formats – the EU, the UN, NATO, and others. Ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in Washington this 9–11 July, the officials will also exchange views on future support for Ukraine and a strategy to contain Russia.
As part of the visit, the Foreign Ministers will visit the military vehicle manufacturing facility of SIA Defence Partnership Latvia, a PATRIA Group company in Valmiera. Margus Tsahkna will also have a meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dace Melbārde.
At the conclusion of the programme, from 19:45 to 21:00, the two Ministers of Foreign Affairs will take part in a panel discussion titled “Nothing about us without us. The role of small countries in the UN” of the LAMPA Conversation Festival and then present the Languages Award by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Estonia at the amount of 5000 euros.
The participants of the panel discussion will also include Dennis Francis, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, and Kristofers Kārlis Krūmiņš, Latvian Youth Delegate to the UN. The event will be moderated by the Head of the Cultural, Societal and Environmental Research Department at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, poet Kārlis Vērdiņš.
Background information
The panel discussion organised by the Ministry of Foreign aims to address the current challenges and interests of small countries and their possibilities of influencing the UN. The discussion will also deal with aspects such as climate change and new generation threats – cyber security, disinformation, artificial intelligence.
Latvia’s candidacy to the UN Security Council (2026–2027)
Candidacy to the UNSC (2026 -2027) is one of the long-term objectives of Latvia’s foreign policy, which is also set out in the National Development Plan of Latvia until 2027. Elections will be held in June 2025 in New York. For Latvia to be elected, it needs to win support from two thirds of UN Member States.
On the Languages Award of the Latvian and Estonian Foreign Ministries
The Languages Award of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Estonia was established in 2010. Its aim is to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries through promoting the learning of and use of the Latvian and Estonian languages, the activity of Latvian-Estonian and Estonian-Latvian translators in translating fiction, political, scientific and other texts, as well as fostering contribution by researchers and teachers of the Latvia and Estonian languages to promoting the Latvian language in Estonia and the Estonian language in Latvia. The value of the Languages Award is 5,000 euros, made up of equal contributions from the Latvian and Estonian Ministries of Foreign Affairs. The award is being presented for the fifteenth consecutive time.