News

On 12 September in Riga, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas, Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Riekstins and Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet met with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who had come to the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) training operation of mine-clearing Open Spirit 2008 in the Baltic Sea. During the meeting, preparation for the upcoming informal NATO Defence Ministers’ meeting in London on 18‑19 September was discussed. The interlocutors also discussed preparation for the upcoming NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels on 6-7 December, during which the extension of NATO Membership Action Plan to Georgia and Ukraine will be on the agenda.

NATO Secretary General and the three Foreign Ministers of the Baltic States discussed topmost issues on NATO’s agenda in the context of changing security situation – missions and operations of the Alliance. First of all, they discussed the biggest and the most significant of these operations, which is the operation in Afghanistan. They also analyzed the future of NATO air police missions, which protect the Alliance’s air space in the Baltic States.

Participants of the meeting spoke about the relations between NATO and Georgia and the future activities of the recently launched NATO and Georgia Commission. They also discussed the relations between the Alliance and Russia.

Before the meeting with NATO General Secretary, Minister P.Vaitiekūnas had a conversation with Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs M.Riekstins. They discussed issues of bilateral relations, related to the ratification of the sea border agreement and joint projects of infrastructure.