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On Friday, 24 November, at the 42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly (BA), MPs from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania discussed the achievements of the Estonian Presidency and agreed on the cooperation priorities for Lithuania’s Presidency of the BA in 2024. The first priority for 2024 is: Baltic region confident in its security, development, and resilience.
Other priorities include: connected, innovative, and sustainable Baltic States; unity, support, and consistency in facing regional challenges.
“The Baltic Assembly was established so that we could develop a regional policy and the decisions of our states, parliaments, and governments would not be made in isolation. A single country usually cannot defend its interests as well as several countries can do it together,” explained Jānis Vucāns, Vice President of the BA and Head of the Latvian delegation. “The mission of the Baltic Assembly is to promote and protect our Baltic interests and explain them to other countries within international cooperation networks. In the current geopolitical situation, as all of our speeches refer to Ukraine—its territorial integrity and victory in the war—it is crucial to have as many like-minded supporters as possible,” noted Vucāns.
The Head of the Latvian delegation underlined that we are reaching more and more open ears and minds as we manage to convince other like-minded parties about Russia’s aggressive nature. “We are working on fulfilling this international mission, and we will keep doing it,” stated Vucāns.
The priorities for cooperation between the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers for 2024 are: regional security, including critical infrastructure security; strengthening regional connectivity; support for Ukraine, including the concerted implementation of sanctions.
Parliamentarians adopted a Resolution emphasising the severe consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the gross violations of the universally recognised norms and principles of international law. The Resolution acknowledges the insufficient effectiveness of the existing international mechanisms and actions to ensure the rapid victory of Ukraine, which would protect Ukrainians from even more suffering and destruction.
The document underlines the increased need for the Baltic States to remain united, strong, and proactive in supporting Ukraine, exposing the true nature of Russia, and addressing joint challenges for strengthening the region. Moreover, the Resolution highlights the role of allies in peacekeeping, deterrence, and strengthening international security.
The BA expresses strong support for Ukraine and other Eastern Partnership countries in their aspirations towards the European Union, and commits to providing expertise and assistance in achieving this goal.
The Resolution includes cooperation recommendations for the parliaments and governments of the Baltic States, as well as the Baltic Council of Ministers in the following areas: security and defence; disaster prevention, preparedness and response, crisis management and civil protection; external border control and management; supporting Ukrainian refugees in the Baltic States.
Moreover, the document includes recommendations for Baltic cooperation in the information area and the media; in protecting the environment and biodiversity in the Baltic States; in health care and social sectors. There are also recommendations for economic and digital cooperation and for cooperation in clean energy transition and development of renewable energy projects. Other recommendation areas include the common electricity and gas market of the Baltic States and the implementation of the Rail Baltica project. In addition, there are extensive recommendations for cooperation in education, science, research, and culture.
During the 42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly, MPs discussed the economic impact of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. Parliamentarians discussed the possibility of combining the capacities of the three Baltic States to strengthen regional resilience in response to increased economic and energy market pressures.
Lithuania will be the presiding state of the BA in 2024, and will be hosting the 43rd BA Session on 17-18 October 2024 in Vilnius.
Information about the BA:
The Baltic Assembly is an inter-parliamentary cooperation organisation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania established on 8 November 1991. The Baltic Assembly consists of national delegations—12 to 16 members from each country’s parliament. It is a coordinating and consultative organisation that has a right to express its opinion to the national parliaments and governments of the Baltic States, as well as the Baltic Council of Ministers, in the form of resolutions, decisions, declarations, and recommendations; it also has a right to request the above-mentioned bodies to provide information on cross-border issues that are high on the Baltic Assembly’s agenda.
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Saeima Press Service