On 7 June 2023, Kristine Līce, Director General of the Legal Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opened the meeting of legal experts from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs organised in the Baltic-Nordic (NB8) cooperation format in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was organised to discuss current international law issues with Baltic and Nordic colleagues.
One of Latvia's priorities in the NB8 cooperation format is to strengthen the rules-based international order. Baltic-Nordic cooperation is essential for future challenges in the context of international law.
The meeting was addressed by Mārtiņš Paparinskis, Chair of the Drafting Committee of the International Law Commission and Professor of Public International Law at University College London, who informed the audience about topical issues of the 74th session of the United Nations International Law Commission. Particular attention was paid to ongoing topics: immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, succession of States in respect of State responsibility, general principles of law, sea-level rise in relation to international law, settlement of disputes to which international organizations are parties, prevention and repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea, subsidiary means for the determination of rules of international law.
During the meeting, representatives of the NB8 countries had informal discussions on issues related to state responsibility, international judicial proceedings and legal aspects of critical infrastructure protection beyond territorial waters. NB8 countries particularly highlighted the issue of state responsibility in relation to internationally wrongful acts and took the position that such wrongful acts undermine the rules-based international order.
Background information
The NB8 (Nordic-Baltic Eight) is a regional cooperation format between like-minded countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. Latvia assumed the coordination of cooperation for 2023.