Honourable Speaker of the Saeima,
esteemed Minister for Interior,
Commander of the State Border Guard,
dear State Border Guard officers and cooperation partners,
ladies and gentlemen,
I am deeply delighted to once again join you – this time for the celebration of your 107th anniversary. It has already become a good tradition to celebrate your special days with you and see your everyday work. I have already had the opportunity to visit the eastern border, appreciate the progress of border reinforcement initiatives and learn more about the complexities of your job. And I must say that graduation celebrations of the State Border Guard College – the graduation ceremonies for young Border Guard officers, the young lieutenants, each summer in Rēzekne – have also become a strong tradition.
This gives us an opportunity to witness the development of State Border Guard, acknowledge the professional acuity, patriotism and motivation of the Border Guard to serve Latvia in accordance with the relevant laws. And this is not an easy duty by any means. Protection and reinforcement of the eastern border is only the visible part of the job. There are other daily tasks that you complete that are often less talked about on daily basis.
This is a good moment to thank all of you for that. A moment when we can also thank your families, near and dear ones. Because only they know best how demanding, taxing your job is, sometimes requiring extra hours to be put in. They are the ones who are always there for you – on bad and good days alike.
2026 is probably the year when we are going to break the record of illegal border crossings set in 2021. I am, of course, talking about the Belarusian and Latvian border here. The figures available to me show that we are at 13 thousand, and the year is not over yet. And everyone here understands that we are not talking merely about the protection of our borders in this case because you are actually the first line of defence for Latvia.
We are being constantly tested, challenged. So, it is vital to have a clear understanding of what is going on. You not only protect our borders against illegal attempts to enter Latvia, you also actually fend off the attacks on our national independence and security.
I am confident that last year has also brought good things in terms of extensive legal protections our state has created for you. A couple of days ago I actually signed the legislative proposal, which grants you greater legal protection, adopted by the parliament and supported by the Interior Minister and the government, into law. Not so long ago, we discussed at great length how to ensure that State Border Guard have more resources and better infrastructure, and, as General Pujāts already mentioned, vital decisions for that are also being made. We can also see the improvements on the state border. However, it is an endless process. It is clear that we will have to keep looking for further ways to facilitate and upgrade the level of our border protection. There is no doubt about that. The next Saeima and the new Cabinet of Ministers will need to address it because internal and external security is our top priority – there is a clear consensus in our country on that, everyone understands that.
But today we celebrate. Well, formally your anniversary is tomorrow, on 7 November. Nevertheless, congratulations to all of you on this important milestone. Congratulations to the recipients of Ministry of Interior, State Border Guard and government awards presented today. Soon, on 18 November, we will meet again in the Riga Castle when some of the State Border Guard officers will receive their highest state honours.
I would like to wish you all strength and eternal optimism. In addition to congratulating the service on its anniversary, I also have to congratulate your commander who is celebrating his birthday tomorrow. Coincidentally, he is born on the same day as the State Border Guard service that he is currently in charge of.
Happy birthday to you too, Mr Pujāts!
