On 7 and 8 October 2024, Political Directors from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Baltic States and Nordic countries and officials from the United States Department of State gathered for the E-PINE (Enhanced Partnership in Northern Europe) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Latvia was represented at the event by Ivars Lasis, Under-Secretary of State and Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The participants discussed the issues of security in the Euro-Atlantic space and NATO’s priority tasks following the Washington Summit; they agreed on a further common approach to curbing Russian aggression and preventing the circumvention of sanctions. The officials voiced strong determination to continue military, financial and humanitarian support for Ukraine, exchanged views on how to effectively counter various types of hybrid threats, and discussed opportunities for cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The meeting also focused on the economic and energy security of the Euro-Atlantic space, security of supply chains, and opportunities for diversifying access to raw materials of strategic importance.
As part of his working visit, Ivars Lasis met with officials from the United States National Security Council, the United States Congress and the Department of State for a discussion on cooperation between Latvia and the United States in areas such as transatlantic security, support to Ukraine, the implementation of sanctions, the Indo-Pacific region, and on economic cooperation. Ivars Lasis welcomed support provided by the United States for building Latvia’s defence capabilities, and he underlined that the United States’ military presence in Latvia and the Baltic region was sending a strong deterrent signal to the aggressor state of Russia.
Background information
The e-PINE initiative was launched in 2003 in order to enhance the United States’ cooperation with the Baltic and Nordic region. The main fields of cooperation in the e-PINE format are security policy, relations with neighbouring countries and the development of economic relations.
Political Directors from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs meet in this format twice a year.