On 27 June, at the Riga Castle, President of Latvia Egils Levits met with representatives of the public for the final conversation of the presidency "Looking to the Future!", where he emphasised the role of the president of Latvia, working to enhance the sustainability of the Latvian state. E. Levits mentioned the four most important pillars of sustainability - national security, Latvian identity, democracy and its quality, and Latvia's competitiveness - and what had been done in these areas and what still needed to be done.
On security, E. Levits pointed out that during his presidency "Latvia's security within the framework of NATO's collective defence system has been further strengthened". In particular, E. Levits noted the cooperation of the country's senior officials in persuading the Western allies to dispel illusions about Russia and to change NATO's defence strategy by defending every square centimetre of its member states' territory.
E. Levits also pointed out that "foreign policy is one of the vectors of our security policy," which is why we must not lose our foreign policy influence and visibility that Latvia has gained since the start of the war in Ukraine. "We understood better than our Western allies what we were dealing with and what we should do!" said the President of Latvia. Therefore, Latvia should continue to work to secure support for Latvia's election to the UN Security Council and to establish an international tribunal to investigate and punish the crime of Russian aggression in Ukraine. President Levits highlighted that Latvia's practical assistance to Ukraine to become a member of NATO as soon as possible after the war was an important foreign policy goal.
E. Levits noted that the integration in Latvia should be based on Latvian identity, which includes the Latvian language as the language of democratic participation, understanding of history and Europeanism. "All of these together form a Latvian perspective of the world," E. Levits emphasised.
President of Latvia Egils Levits also pointed to seven stages "which must be linked in a single chain to ensure Latvia's competitiveness". These are: school education, higher education, science, research, innovation, production and export.
At the end of his speech, President Levits thanked the people of Latvia: "I am grateful to the people of Latvia for their trust and for giving me the opportunity to serve my country for four years as the President of Latvia. I thank my political advisors and all the staff of Riga Castle for their passion, dedication and cohesive teamwork! I thank all those many people I have had the honour to meet and collaborate with. I thank all the like-minded people and constructive critics with whom I was able to share my thoughts."
"My political guiding motive has always been to work for Latvia, starting from the time of exile and the Awakening, and in all positions after that. I will continue to work for Latvia - as a responsible citizen of my country and as a free person," said President of Latvia Egils Levits.
