Dear President Craig Kennedy,

Distinguished members of the diplomatic community,

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am deeply honored to represent Latvia at this inauguration ceremony of the GMF Black Sea Trust. I would like to start by commending President Kennedy and the GMF for coming up with this very timely, forward-looking initiative that has already gained wide recognition and support from a number of countries, institutions, and non-governmental organizations in Europe and North America. I am proud that Latvia has decided to be a founding member of this joint effort to promote security, development and prosperity in the countries of the Black Sea region.

It is a very gratifying feeling for me as a Latvian diplomat today. Due to historical reasons until very recently it is has not been a common practice that Latvia could claim to be a founding member of anything. Throughout the largest part of the 20^th century, the nations of the Baltic and Black Sea regions were deprived of the opportunity to develop freely, to participate in the mainstream of global political, social and economic developments. The power struggle between the two big totalitarian regimes in Europe, the WWII and the Cold War not only excluded us from free, uninterrupted development, moreover, our nations endured unspeakable hardships, terror, deportations and national humiliation. Unfortunately, despite encouraging developments over the last few years, this bitter historical legacy of the 20^th century is still hanging over certain areas of the Black Sea region.

Given the historical and geopolitical context, we feel very strongly about supporting comprehensive reforms in the countries of the Black Sea region, in particular Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and hope that the Latvian perspective and experience might be compatible and helpful. We stand ready to share our transformational know-how on the pressing issues of democratization, legal reforms, and regional cooperation. A foreign policy priority of my country is to promote the Euroatlantic aspirations of the countries in the Black Sea region.

I hope that Latvia can be an inspiration to many nations in the Black Sea region. Just 17 years ago, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the non-violent Singing Revolution, the people of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia changed the course of history. Our nations endured painful reforms to liberate ourselves from enforced hibernation and made every effort to telescope the pace of development in all walks of life. On this journey, we have accumulated quite a unique experience in switching from a totalitarian, centralized, Soviet regime into a democratic, tolerant, European, free market and rule of law system of governance. Our peoples had to sacrifice a lot, make countless adjustments, demonstrate patience and perseverance.

Our countries are still working on progress, but we have proved that transformation is possible. Change can bring tangible results. Reforms can be translated into economic prosperity. We know that old habits die very hard, so every opportunity has to be used to encourage positive changes in the Black Sea region.

Our experience in dealing with our big neighbor and partner Russia is of certain value as well. We have not had enough time yet to settle some outstanding issues with Russia. However, this year we have concluded the border treaty, which will lay the foundation for the furthering of dialog and regional cooperation. Our membership in the European Union and NATO has provided additional avenues for dealing with bilateral and regional issues.

Our success is the success of our partners and allies. The Euroatlantic perspective has motivated us greatly to implement far-reaching reforms. We are grateful to all our friends. Your support, advice and encouragement have been instrumental on every stage of transformation. Now, it is our duty to contribute. Therefore, we stand ready to share our successes and failures with other countries in transition.

We in the Baltics are strong believers in regional cooperation, which sometimes means friendly competition between close neighbors. The Baltic Sea region is quite a special case study in this respect.  From a divided, fragmented, heterogeneous area, over the last decade, the Baltic Sea has emerged as an internal EU Sea. The Baltic Sea region is increasingly perceived globally as an integrated geo-economic unit. Needless to say that the regional integration has had a tremendous impact on economic development, competitiveness and business thinking. We stand ready to share that experience as well with other regions in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

The countries of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea regions have matured as close allies in NATO and international peace keeping operations. Let me mention just one example to indicate how strong is the regional solidarity within the Alliance. In 2004, the NATO Summit was hosted in Istanbul. Last year we were proud to offer our capital city of Riga as a venue of this international forum. Latvia has benefited greatly from this historic event. During this event, our partnership with the GMF has been solidified greatly. I would like to use this opportunity to express our deepest respect and gratitude to President Craig Kennedy for his involvement in the Summit`s think tank conference as well for his passionate support for the Baltics.  Now, we are pleased to pass the flame of the NATO Summit to the Black Sea nation of Romania. I would like to introduce the next speaker, a good colleague of mine- Mrs Daniela Gitman from Bucharest, Romania.

Once again, I would like thank all supporters of the GFM Black Sea Trust. Latvia is truly proud to be part of this noble endeavor, and I very much hope that this joint initiative will succeed and that it will help the changes in the Black Sea countries to become irreversible.

Thank you.