27 January

Today, the Minister of Defence Mart Laar met his Latvian colleague Artis Pabriks in Riga and discussed issues related to defence co-operation between the two countries, including the joint projects like the Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON and the Baltic Defence College. Another topic discussed was the Chicago summit of NATO in spring, where among other topics further development of the Baltic Air Defence Mission will be covered. Both ministers of defence said that they will go to the Chicago summit in May with relatively positive expectations.

”Baltic defence co-operation is a good example of the principle of smart defence, at the same time also being the only way for small countries – doing things together,” Minister of Defence Laar said.

While in Riga, the minister of defence also met with Prime Minister of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis and Ainars Latkovskis, chairman of the Sejm’s defence committee. At the meetings, Laar expressed his satisfaction over the principal decision of Latvia to start increasing its defence budget.

During the visit, Minister of Defence Laar also gave a lecture to the students of the University of Latvia and the Riga Stradiņš University on the future and challenges of Baltic co-operation, followed by a public discussion with Latvian Minister of Defence Pabriks.