Yesterday President of Latvia Egils Levits, who is currently in Sweden with an official visit, met in Stockholm with the Speaker of Riksdag Andreas Norlén, deputy speakers and commission leaders for a discussion on bilateral relations, Baltic Sea region security, future of Europe and other issues on the international agenda today.
President of Latvia specifically highlighted the historic meaning of the official visit, which is aligned to the centenary of de iure recognition of Latvia by Sweden and 30 years since re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Egils Levits strongly praised the active bilateral relations between Sweden and Latvia.
President of Latvia acknowledged the close cooperation of Latvia and Sweden in international organisations, especially on topics such as multilateralism and stronger international rules-based order, human rights and gender equality.
Both sides agreed that Nordic-Baltic cooperation is very successful, which is a strong precondition for wider political and economic dialogue, joint digital projects and cultural cooperation today and tomorrow.
On the topic of Baltic Sea regional security, Egils Levits underlined that closer relations between NATO and Sweden are among Latvia’s priorities.
Both sides mentioned fight against disinformation as one of the main global security threats faced by the world today. President Levits expressed Latvia’s support for common European Union approach to defining more responsible and transparent standards for online platforms which would balance fight against disinformation with fundamental rights.
As regards to the future of Europe, President of Latvia praised the concept of Conference on the Future of Europe and its role in facilitating meaningful debate on the future of Europe as well as giving Europeans a voice in discussion aimed at collecting new thoughts.