When discussing opening of the new building of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, the two officials agreed on the need to contribute to cooperation both in the field of defence and strategic communication between the NATO and the European Union, including identification of common risks. Raimonds Vējonis thanked Lithuania for its contribution, taking into account that Lithuania was one of the founding countries of the centre, while D. Grybauskaite mentioned that such establishment of the centre of excellence in the Baltic States confirming solidarity of the NATO.
During the meeting, the President of Latvia underlined that a lot more active work on restricting the refugees flow and causes of migration should be undertaken throughout the European Union. “If we continue only eliminating the consequences while discussing refugee quotas for distribution and accommodation in EU Member States, we will not be able to cope with streams of refugees coming from the Middle East and African countries,” said Raimonds Vējonis. The President of Lithuania D. Grybauskaite admitted that the situation with refugee flows increasing in Italy and Greece was alarming.
In the context of international security, both Presidents also discussed the issue of escalating tension in Ukraine, where several clashes occurred in recent weeks manifesting on failure to meet the obligations under the Minsk Agreements.
Regarding bilateral relations, the President of Latvia and the President of Lithuania discussed development of gas market in the Baltic region, progress of the project Rail Baltica, and potential restoration of the railway section Mazeikiai - Reņģe, which was currently being assessed by the European Competition Authority.
At the end of the conversation, the Latvian and Lithuanian top officials discussed the upcoming visit to New York in late September where they would attend the 70th session of the UN General Assembly and the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit.
