On 1 March, President of Latvia Egils Levits received Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, at the Riga Castle.
President of Latvia and Speaker of Lithuanian parliament praised the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed their pleasure about the wonderful centenary celebrations in both countries, as well as unique tradition of celebrating Baltic Unity Day every year to showcase the common cultural and linguistic roots shared by Latvia and Lithuania. Egils Levits and Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen agreed that there are many other ways in which unity between the countries could be deepened even further. For example, through regular discussions between politicians and experts in both countries. It would be especially important to involve young people in such discussions.
Speaker of Seimas told how Lithuania is managing the remote work of the parliament and outlined the vaccination process. According to Mrs Čmilytė-Nielsen, one of the key challenges right now is people’s readiness to get vaccinated.
President of Latvia and Speaker of Lithuanian parliament then moved on to European Union (EU) Eastern Partnership Policy and situation in Belarus in particular. Both officials underlined the importance of continued international attention on developments in Belarus and practical support to democratic forces. There is also a need to continue supporting education opportunities of Belarusian youth. Egils Levits and Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen also discussed current situation in other EU Eastern Partnership countries.
Speaking about the Three Seas Initiative, President Levits and Speaker Čmilytė-Nielsen both recognised the significance of this regional cooperation format in developing energy, transport and digital infrastructure interconnections with other European countries. President of Latvia underlined that Latvia and Lithuania need to speak with one voice to secure the future EU funding required to bring Rail Baltica project to a successful completion.
Both officials agreed that Three Seas Initiative is one of the ways of strengthening region’s ties with USA. President Levits also expressed his support for the coming democracy summit organised by US in 2021 to bring discussion on global democratic challenges to the fore.