Foreign Minister Aivis Ronis: currently, most important are focused Baltic-Nordic co-operation, resource consolidation, and regional economic integration [27 Aug 2010]

After the Meeting of the Baltic and Nordic Foreign Ministers (Nordic-Baltic Eight or NB8) on 26-27 August in Riga, Foreign Minister Aivis Ronis accentuated that currently political solidarity, a focused co-operation with other Baltic and Nordic countries, the consolidation of resources, and regional economic integration hold a particular importance for Latvia. "The more competitive our region becomes, the more competitive is also each country in the Baltic and Nordic community," Minister Ronis recognised. He also expressed conviction that a closer co-operation among the eight countries could also significantly strengthen the link between the EU and NATO. 

Foreign Minister Aivis Ronis recognised that the Baltic-Nordic co-operation has seen different stages, as well as different levels of regional solidarity and support. The support from the Nordic countries has been decisive for the Baltic states in the process of restoring and strengthening independence, as well as for their integration into the European Union and NATO, while these days, especially under the conditions of the global economic crisis, it is political solidarity and a focused development of co-operation that have increasingly gained in importance.

The Foreign Minister of Denmark Lene Espersen emphasised that the relations between the Baltic and Nordic countries are a cornerstone for the co-operation in the region. In the Minister's opinion, the most ambitious of the proposed scenarios has to be taken forward.

The high level representative from Latvia entrusted by NB8 foreign ministers to produce a report on the Baltic-Nordic co-operation, former prime minister and foreign minister Valdis Birkavs sees three possible scenarios for the development of the Baltic-Nordic relations: unchanged relations, intensive development, or the most ambitious aim – future integration.

The high level representative from Denmark, former defence minister Søren Gade expressed satisfaction both for the positive response from representatives of national governments, parliaments, the academic community and non-governmental organizations received during the elaboration of the report, and for the decisions taken by the NB8 foreign ministers on carrying out the report's recommendations.

Foreign Minister Aivis Ronis expressed gratitude to both high level experts for their efforts, as well as to former foreign minister Māris Riekstiņš for the initiative to produce such a report. Minister Ronis accentuated that the recommendations will be carefully assessed. Given that some of them include practical assignments, for instance, to continue the ongoing co-operation among diplomatic mission in the third countries, these matters will be dealt with at the level of the foreign ministry political directors. 

The agenda of the meeting also included other topics: the region's engagement in the mission in Afghanistan; preparations for NATO Lisbon Summit; NATO's new Strategic Concept; the OSCE Summit, and the upcoming Lithuanian OSCE Presidency in 2010. Minister Ronis accentuated a close co-operation among the region's countries in Afghanistan, where, for instance, Latvian and Norwegian soldiers are saving each other's lives.

The annual NB8 Foreign Ministers' meeting was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia as the co-ordinator for the Baltic-Nordic co-operation in 2010. This is the first time that Latvia is in charge of co-ordinating the NB8 co-operation among foreign ministries. The next meeting of the Nordic-Baltic Eight foreign ministers will be held in 2011 in Helsinki, Finland.