Speakers of the Parliaments of the Baltic States arrive on a visit to Ottawa

Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, and Lauri Hussar, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia, arrived on a visit to Ottawa from 27 till 29 January 2024. The three Speakers met with The Honourable Greg Fergus, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, representatives of the Canada-Nordic-Baltic Parliamentary Friendship group and several members of parliament.  

During the talks the representatives of the Baltic States and Canada agreed that all four countries enjoyed close relations and shared common values. They also agreed that a coordinated approach was crucial to stand against the most important security challenges of the 21^st Century. Representatives of Canada noted that, similar to the Baltic States, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine dominated Canada’s political agenda. They affirmed that Canada was determined to continue its assistance to Ukraine for as long as necessary. The officials agreed that it was also important to continue the sanctions policy against Russia. Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia, stressed the necessity to ensure Russia’s accountability for war crimes in Ukraine, highlighting the importance of collecting and documenting evidence.

The Speakers of the Baltic States and Canada also agreed that in order to strengthen resilience to global security challenges, it was important to further increase national defence capacities of the NATO member states. It was also necessary to continue efforts to strengthen democracies around the world and to maintain a rules-based international order.

During the visit, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia Daiga Mieriņa also met representatives of the Latvian diaspora and visited children and their parents at the Latvian school in Ottawa.

The Speakers of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania gave an interview to the CBC, the largest news broadcaster in Canada. The full interview can be accessed here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-russia-ukraine-baltics-1.7098660?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar