The President of Latvia reminded that both Latvia and Estonia were Member States of NATO, the European Union, and OECD, and Estonia was and would remain a close ally of Latvia on its path towards security and prosperity in Europe. “We are seeing challenges and the way to overcome them alike,” said he.
During the meeting with the President of Estonia, preparations and priorities of Estonia for its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2017 were also discussed, as the President of Latvia informed. He also stressed that Latvia and Estonia agreed on the need to deepen cooperation of the EU in the matters of single digital market and the Energy Union, but the Nord Stream 2 Project did not comply with the objectives of the Energy Union and its economic justification was also vague. While discussing regional infrastructure projects, strategic importance of the Rail Baltica Project was marked in particular.
During the press conference, Raimonds Vējonis also pointed out that the cooperation with Estonia was going on both on global scale and on a daily basis, and he expressed satisfaction that closer cooperation between the two countries was currently forming both in the issues of the e-solutions and in transfer of the expertise of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board.
The President of Latvia noted that he saw all the preconditions for Latvian and Estonian cooperation to continue be successful at both national and presidential level, “Cooperation between Latvia and Estonia has always relied on shared core values, that is, freedom and democracy. We share common historical experience, interests, and vision of the future.” He wished strength and endurance in the execution of the responsible office to President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid, and he was pleased that the President of the neighbouring country was a colleague with biology education.