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Tomorrow, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will mark the 75th anniversary of signing the Treaty on Concord and Cooperation. The document was signed on 12 September 1934 at the session of the League of Nations in Geneva. In the opinion of Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas, the first trilateral Treaty promoted the idea of the unity of the Baltic States and laid the foundations for the strategic dialogue of the Baltic States, which is successfully continued till now.

Even though during the pre-war period not all the provisions of this Treaty were implemented, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia used the Treaty as a basis to start the new phase of trilateral relations after the re-establishment of the independence of the Baltic States. Joint institutions for the cooperation of their parliaments and governments have been founded. This year Lithuania chairs the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers.

The Treaty on Concord and Cooperation of the Baltic States was signed by foreign ministers in 1934. Under this document, the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia committed to consult each other in foreign policy matters of mutual importance and to provide mutual assistance in political and diplomatic matters of their international relations.

The Baltic States also followed the Treaty of 1934 when they were re-establishing their independence and provided the legal basis for mutual cooperation as well as highlighted the continuity of their statehood.

On 12 May 1990 in Tallinn, heads of the Parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed the Declaration on Concord and Cooperation by the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia, which renewed the Treaty on Concord and Cooperation of 1934. The Treaty was illegally suspended in 1940.

The Declaration also announced about the creation of the Council of Baltic States. This institution of cooperation of the Baltic States was created during the period of the re-establishment of independence and was replaced by the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers in 1994.

Today Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia use these institutions to continue their regional cooperation by strengthening close political, economic, cultural, scientific, educational and other relations, as well as by coordinating their activities in the European Union and NATO.