On 6 May 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braže, was in Estonia on a working visit. While in Tallinn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs met the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, the President of the Riigikogu (Parliament), Lauri Hussar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margus Tsahkna, and the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu, Marko Mihkelson. During the visit views were exchanged on priority matters high on the regional and international agenda, the provision of support to Ukraine, and the ways to further develop bilateral cooperation between Latvia and Estonia.
In her meetings with the Estonian officials, the Latvian Foreign Minister underlined:
“Latvia and Estonia enjoy excellent neighbourly relations and cooperation. The complex geopolitical conditions and joint support to Ukraine has brought neighbours and friends even closer together.”
The Latvian and Estonian officials welcomed the broad-scale bilateral cooperation and the dynamic exchange of visits. They unanimously acknowledged the close partnership between the two countries both bilaterally and in regional and multilateral formats, including the Nordic-Baltic cooperation or NB8, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations.
Exchanging views on the security situation of the region, including preparations for the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., the Minister highlighted the implementation of NATO defence plans, support to Ukraine, the restraining of Russia, as well as the experience of Latvia and Estonia in combating the hybrid threat posed by Russia, including public involvement in strengthening the resilience of countries.
The officials made a pledge to continue comprehensive support for Ukraine and its reconstruction, to reinforce sanctions against Russia and to fight their circumvention, as well as to stand up for holding Russia fully accountable for its crime of aggression.
The representatives of both Latvia and Estonia agreed on the need to keep working on the implementation of transport and energy infrastructure projects of regional importance, emphasising in particular the importance of Rail Baltica.
The Latvian Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that this year, for the fifteenth time, the Latvian and Estonian Foreign Ministries would present their Languages Award, which plays a major role in promoting the Latvian and Estonian languages.
As part of her visit, the Minister also took part in a roundtable expert discussion on threats posed by Russia and on societal resilience held at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) of Estonia.
