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The United States of America (USA) has always been a reliable and secure ally of Latvia, and also today, at a time when the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine protect not only their own, but the entire Europe’s external borders, the political, diplomatic and military support of the United States is geopolitically and strategically invaluable and important. This was emphasised by Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and Chair of the National Security Committee, and Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, during a working visit to the USA.
During the bilateral meetings at the USA Congress and the Department of State, the Latvian parliamentarians had the opportunity to reaffirm Latvia’s strong commitment to participate in the promotion of NATO’s effectiveness and capacity, ensuring the Alliance’s ability to protect its member states by addressing contemporary threats and challenges.
The situation on the Latvian-Belarus border is currently stable, but still subject to possible provocations. The increasing presence of Russian military forces on the Ukrainian border is also a matter of serious concern. It is in the interests of Latvia’s security to update NATO’s deterrence and security plans in order to guarantee the Alliance’s ability to address the threat posed by Russia and Belarus in the region, the Latvian MPs stressed during the visit.
The Latvian parliamentarians also discussed topical issues of the Three Seas Initiative with the USA officials, highlighting the potential of this cooperation platform to strengthen regional security, promote economic growth and competitiveness, as well as deepen transatlantic cooperation. The USA is a strategically important cooperation partner, and, in anticipation of the centenary of diplomatic relations between Latvia and the USA and the planned Summit of the Three Seas Initiative in Riga in June, the representatives of the Saeima on behalf of the Parliament extended an invitation to the representatives of the USA Congress to visit Latvia next year, thus promoting cooperation between parliamentarians of both countries and developing the parliamentary dimension of the Three Seas Initiative.
During the visit, Lībiņa-Egnere and Kols met with Ron Johnson, Co-Chair of the Sub-committee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, Don Bacon and Ruben Gallego, Co-Chairs of the House Baltic Caucus, and Marcy Kaptur, member of the Baltic Caucus, August Pfluger, member of the Sub-committee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation of the Committee on Foreign Relations, as well as Robin Dunningan, Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for Central and Eastern Europe of the U.S. Department of State, and Liesyl Franz, Deputy Coordinator of Cybersecurity of the Department of State.
A meeting with representatives of the Washington, D.C.-based think tanks “Atlantic Council” and “The Center for European Policy Analysis” (CEPA) was an opportunity to address security policy issues and topical issues of cooperation between the countries.
The Latvian parliamentarians also met with representatives of the diaspora living in Washington, D.C. and Latvians working in international institutions.
Lībiņa-Egnere and Kols, at the invitation of the Congressman Robert Pittenger, are visiting Washington, D.C., the US capital, where they take part in the 20th International Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum.
Saeima Press Service