LITHUANIAN, LATVIAN AND ESTONIAN MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DISCUSSED FURTHER COOPERATION
On 23 November, during the the 13th Baltic Council of the The Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers in Riga, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas together with Estonian and Latvian Ministers of Foreign Affairs made a joint statement on the most important mutual cooperation issues of the three Baltic States and set cooperation priorities for 2008.
Ministers decided to encourage the cooperation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, seeking to strengthen the competitiveness of the countries within the European Union and in the world.
In the joint statement the necessity is emphasized to strengthen the cooperation in the area of energy, uphold the solidarity principle in the energy policy, coordinate joint position of the three states in the EU, which would help to solve the issue of the energy isolation of the Baltic States from the EU energy market, and increase the energy security, as well as reduce dependence from the single external energy supplier.
The ministers of the three states also encouraged respective institutions to develop and endorse national programs, seeking to reduce emigration, and encourage the return of the labour force, paying special attention to young educated people.
A lot of attention was also drawn to the Baltic Sea. It was decided to continue implementing international standards of maritime safety, pay due attention to the environmental threats to the Baltic Sea, which may be caused by intensified traffic, implementation of energy projects by third countries, requesting independent impact assessment;
In the joint statement it is also stressed that the Baltic States should more actively contribute to the development of the European Neighborhood Policy.
The ministers also agreed about the guidelines for co-operation in 2008: common Baltic energy strategy; strengthening the reliability of energy production and supply, energy efficiency, cooperation on the issues of security of the cyber-space.
The 14th Baltic Council will be held on 5 December 2008 in Tallinn.
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