On 18 June, President of Latvia Egils Levits hosted H. E. Ms Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of Lithuania, in the Riga Castle for a discussion on current cooperation between Latvia and Lithuania.
At the opening of the meeting, both officials acknowledged the long history of active relations between Baltic countries and close Latvian-Lithuanian cooperation.
Egils Levits and Ingrida Šimonytė discussed European Union’s economic recovery from the crisis caused by the pandemic. President of Latvia and Lithuanian Prime minister both noted that Baltic countries should expand cooperation in development of environmentally friendly technologies for green economy.
Mr Levits and Ms Šimonytė exchanged views about implementation of the Baltic railway infrastructure project Rail Baltica. It was underlined that project management should focus its efforts on securing the funding necessary for implementation of the project and delivery of its components prior to deadlines. Management should also maintain high efficiency throughout project cycle.
President of Latvia mentioned the forthcoming Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bulgarian capital Sofia this July. He highlighted the economic and geopolitical advantages of this cooperation platform for the Baltics and its potential to attract US investments.
President Levits and Prime Minister Šimonytė also discussed recent developments in neighbouring Belarus. They both called upon European Union for continued and effective restrictive measures against Belarus. Officials also stressed the importance of Latvia and Lithuania offering continued support for Belarusian people’s democratic aspirations.