FlickrDuring his visit in Ottawa Andris Sprūds, Minister of Defence of Latvia, discusses defence cooperation with his Canadian colleague Minister Bill Blair
15.03.2024. 22:44
Andris Sprūds, Minister of Defence of Latvia, visited Ottawa from 6 to 8 March 2024. During his visit Minister met Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence of Canada, as well as General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff. Minister Sprūds also delivered a speech at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence.
During the talks both ministers discussed defence cooperation between the two states, including scaling up the Canadian military presence in Latvia, and exchanged views on the pertinent security challenges and support to Ukraine. The Ministers condemned Russia’s illegal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and reaffirmed that both Latvia and Canada will continue to provide Ukraine with comprehensive military assistance. To further develop Ukraine’s drone capabilities, Minister Blair announced that Canada willjoin the Ukraine Defense Contact Group’s Drone Capability Coalition, initiated by Latvia.
The two Ministers also discussed current efforts to scale up the multinational NATO Battle Group in Latvia, which Canada has led since 2017. Canada is more than doubling its military presence from about 1,000 troops to a sustained deployment of up to 2,200 troops by 2026 according to the July 2023 Roadmap on Scaling the eFP Latvia Battle Group to Brigade. Canada is also deploying additional capabilities to the Battle Group. In late 2023, Canada deployed a Canadian Army Tank Squadron of 15 Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks to Latvia, and starting the summer of 2024, Canada will begin to deploy Royal Canadian Air Force helicopters to the Battle Group, as Minister Blair announced in December 2023.
During his visit Minister Andris Sprūds gave several interviews to Canadian media:
Latvia assured Canada will meet NATO spending target | CTV News
