42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly focuses on economic impacts of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and on civil defence

NordenBladet —

President of the Baltic Assembly (BA) Timo Suslov thinks that the year of the Estonian presidency of the BA has been marked by the continuation of building a resilient, secure, reliable and sustainable Baltic region. “This is especially important as there is a war going on in Europe. On the one hand, Russia’s war in Ukraine made the Baltic States reassess their security and encouraged us to patch up the gaps in the security capabilities of our countries. At the same time, the Baltic States must remain united and unwaveringly strong in their support for Ukraine and work to expose the true face of Russia,” Suslov underlined. “We warned time and again about Russia, but unfortunately no one believed us. Now, seeing that the parties are getting tired and priorities are changing, we, the Baltic parliamentarians, must continue this important work with determination and consistently.”

Suslov added that such organisations of parliamentary cooperation like the Baltic Assembly were of help in resolving global crises and he was happy to note that over the years, the Baltic Assembly had proven to be an excellent way to bring together parliamentarians from different parts of the world.

The meeting of parliamentarians will begin today with an award ceremony where the Baltic Assembly prizes and medals are awarded. This year, the Baltic Assembly Prize in the Arts went to to Estonian artist Peeter Laurits for his outstanding and diverse artistic work and the project ‘Biotoopia’. The Prize in Literature was awarded to Lithuanian translator and poet Antanas A. Jonynas for his collection of sonnets “Naujieji sonetai”. The Prize in Science was awarded to Latvian musicologist Arnolds Laimonis Klotiņš for his monographs on music and creative life in post-war Stalinist Latvia and the Latvian music life in exile in Europe during the same period. The ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. at the Concert Hall of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Tomorrow, the meeting of the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly and the Speakers of the national parliaments of the Baltic States will take place in the Riigikogu. After that, at 10 a.m., the 42nd Session of the BA will be opened. At the opening of the Session, the speakers of the parliaments of the Baltic States will deliver speeches. The Session will be chaired by the President of the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov and Vice-Presidents of the BA Andrius Kupčinskas and Jānis Vucāns.

The Baltic Council, the cooperation assembly of the Governments and the parliaments of the Baltic States, will hold its 29th meeting on Friday. The sitting of the Baltic Council will be chaired by Chairman of the Co-operation Council of the Baltic Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia , Margus Tsahkna and President of the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov. Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš will also deliver speeches.

On Friday at 1 p.m., a press conference will be held in the White Hall of the Riigikogu, where it will be possible to pose questions to the heads of delegations and the foreign ministers of the Baltic States. Immediately before the press conference, the President of the BA and Chair of the Baltic Council of Ministers will sign the Joint Statement of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers.

The BA session will continue in the afternoon. At the afternoon session, the impacts of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine on economy as well as effective civil defence will be discussed. At the end of the session, the new President of the Baltic Assembly will be elected, and the Resolution and the final documents of the 42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly will be signed. After the end of the Session, Estonia will hand over the presidency of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers to Lithuania.

The Baltic Assembly (Interparliamentary Assembly of the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania) is a consultative cooperation organisation of the parliaments of the three Baltic States which discusses issues of mutual interest. The Head of the Estonian delegation to the BA is Timo Suslov, the Deputy Head is Enn Eesmaa. The members of the delegation are Arvo Aller, Karmen Joller, Meelis Kiili, Lauri Laats, Priit Lomp, Tiit Maran, Helir-Valdor Seeder, Riina Solman, Margit Sutrop and Peeter Tali.

Members of the press are welcome to cover all these events. Please notify us of your wish to participate at maris.meiessaar@riigikogu.ee.

Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
+372 631 6353, +372 5558 3993
maris.meiessaar@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: 42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly focuses on economic impacts of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and on civil defence

Source: Parliament of Estonia