Agreeing to the statement of President Raimonds Vējonis, the Minister said that results of the Summit taken place in Wales last year were appreciated, but real implementation thereof was required. “We would like to see not only the USA in Estonia, which responded the first when the crisis in Crimea began,” said M.Kaljurand.
During the meeting, issues of strategic communication and opening of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga were also discussed. The President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis also highlighted that the conflict in Ukraine proved importance of strategic communication and the need for such a centre. “I wish to thank Estonia for being one of the seven founders of the centre and your representatives have made significant contribution to establishment thereof," said the President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis.
The officials also discussed opinions of the Russian-speaking population in both countries on the conflict in Ukraine, and the media space broadcasting in Russian, and they indicated that these matters also called for closer cooperation between Latvia and Estonia. “We must invest in quality of content and journalism broadcasting and writing in Russian in order to compete with the powerful content of Russian entertainment,” said Raimonds Vējonis.
The parties also discussed defence expenditure of the two countries. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia congratulated Latvia on its commitment to increase the defence expenditure to reach 2% of GDP by 2018. During the meeting, the collocutors also dealt with the situation on the borders of the two countries - particularly the Eastern border where distinct pressure of illegal immigration was currently experienced in both Latvia and Estonia.
Raimonds Vējonis also condemned the ruling of the Russian court in the case of Estonian security officer Eston Kohver and expressed the readiness to provide international support for Estonia. M.Kaljurand thanked Latvia for its support and stressed that such a ruling was a violation of international law.
The President of Latvia congratulated M.Kaljurand on the occasion of the Day of Restoration of Independence of Estonia celebrated on 20 August,and he stressed that the path of independence that the Baltic States once chose was the right choice. “Although other former Soviet Republics also restored their freedom, only the Baltic States became truly independent,” said the President of Latvia.