On 11 June, President of Latvia Egils Levits hosted the Speaker of the Saeima and leaders of parliamentary groups at the Riga Castle for a discussion on foreign policy coordination required to achieve Latvia’s international ambitions.
President of Latvia mentioned the Three Seas Initiative (3SI). Its annual summit in early July in Bulgaria will gather leaders from all member states participating in the initiative. As Egils Levits stressed, this initiative will immensely help Latvia raise its political and economic profile internationally. It is also a good platform for marketing our country and attracting new investment.
Three Seas Initiative is a regional economic cooperation platform created by heads of participating states in Croatia during the first Three Seas summit on 25 August 2016. 3SI brings together 12 European Union (EU) member states located between Adriatic, Baltic and the Black Sea: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
This initiative is fundamental for closer cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries. It is comprised of flagship physical infrastructure projects and aims to gradually eliminate disconnect between EU’s northern and southern regions in terms of energy, transport and digital communication network links.
3SI will have positive effect on region’s safety, promote its growth, competitiveness and greater cohesion with the rest of the EU. I will also make transatlantic links stronger. Three Seas strategic partners – USA, Germany and European Commission – also play an important role in 3SI.
President and MPs talked about steps Latvia needs to take to secure a seat on the UN Security Council in 2026-2027. ‘This is a unique opportunity to raise our international profile as many other countries in the Council will have an opportunity to learn more about where we are and how we live. It is also a chance to advance the existing political ties with countries we are already close with,’ said Egils Levits.
Meeting also focused on Latvia’s Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in 2023 and recent presidential legislative initiatives.
President met with Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, Andrejs Klementjevs, MP from ‘Concord’ Social Democratic, Māris Možvillo, Chair of the KPV LV parliamentary group, Uldis Augulis, Chair of the Union of Greens and Farmers parliamentary group, Raivis Dzintars, Chair of the National Alliance “All for Latvia!”–“For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK” parliamentary group, Juris Jurašs, Chair of the New Conservatives’ parliamentary group, Juris Pūce, Chair of the “Development/For!” parliamentary group and Andrejs Judins, Chair of the NEW UNITY parliamentary group.