Raimonds Vējonis admitted that this decision confirmed a common understanding of the allies about the needs of regional security in the Eastern flank of the Alliance. Warsaw Summit scheduled to confirm that four multinational battalions of NATO forces would be deployed in the three Baltic States and Poland.
“Extended presence of the allies in the region will strengthen NATO's defensibility and will provide a deterrent effect against potential future threats,” stressed the President of Latvia.
“We are investing in Latvia’s defence and we are strengthening our defensibility, but it is very important for us that the Alliance has unanimous support of our region. It is also important for ourselves to be consistent in the issue of investment into defence spending. We may not deviate from the target to reach 2% of GDP on national defence by 2018,” indicated the President of Latvia.
It is also very important this Summit will decide on defence against any kind of threat, including threat of hybrid war that has become a topical issue in recent years, as well as on role and further efforts of NATO to combat terrorism, control illegal migration, closer cooperation between NATO and the European Union, the NATO mission in Afghanistan, support for Ukraine and Georgia, and other issues, according to Raimonds Vējonis.
During NATO Summit, the President of Latvia will have bilateral meetings with Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and President of Poland Andrzej Duda on July 9 in order to discuss cooperation on security issues.
NATO is an alliance of 28 Member States, which are united by shared values and common purpose to strengthen defensibility, to promote democracy, stability, and security beyond its borders. Latvia has been a NATO member since 2004.