UK delegation to Latvia spotlights strength of relations & support for Ukraine
A small but perfectly formed delegation of myself, John Whittingdale MP, Baroness Ros Scott, John Slinger MP and Joe Perry (IPU) travelled to Latvia between Sunday 15 and Wednesday 18 September for a short but intensive programme.
That this was only the second outward IPU delegation of the new Parliament underlines the point made many times by Latvian politicians and defence personnel – that the excellent bilateral relations between the UK and Latvia are hugely valued. Historically, the UK was the first country to recognise Latvia’s de facto independence in 1918 and UK-Latvia relations are strong today based on coordination and support for Ukraine, and shared concern over the Russian threat to the Baltic states – both physically and through hybrid tactics. The UK and Latvia are currently leading on the Drone Capability Coalition for Ukraine.
Defence and security cooperation clearly dominated our discussions, with the threat of Russian aggression existential to many Latvians (which we were able to learn more about through our visit to the Museum of Occupation). Latvia is a significant donor of military and humanitarian support to Ukraine and spends over 3 per cent of its GDP on defence. Just days before our visit, a Russian drone breached Latvian airspace. These types of incidents becoming more frequent along NATO’s eastern flank.
Our delegation met with Deputy Speakers and members of the UK friendship group, the Minister for Defence, members of the Economic, Environment and Regional Policy Committee, and the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
Key takeaways for our group included how valued the support and cooperation of our two countries is and the importance of Storm Shadow which was high in the news during our visit. We also discussed the effectiveness of sanctions, enforced migration, the development of the Baltic Defence Line, and the need to cooperate more within NATO on hybrid warfare. Our thanks to the Canadian armed forces personnel for the opportunity to witness first-hand the operations of the NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia at the Adazi military base, including the facilities used by the new Latvian conscripts. The scale and importance of the international operation was not lost on any of us.
Turning to domestic issues, the delegation also had very informative meetings with the Minister for Climate and Energy focusing on energy security in the context of Latvia’s past reliance on its Russian neighbour, and the development of renewables, particularly wind power. We visited the excellent Marta Centre to hear about the work they do to development women’s rights and tackling domestic violence, and their role in Latvia ratifying the Istanbul convention earlier this year. Following the invasion of Ukraine the Latvian Government has introduced a number of measures to reduce Russian influence including promoting the Latvian language and citizenship laws, a salient issue during our visit, and we also received a briefing from the British Council team about their cultural engagement projects which aim to build resilience to disinformation and build social cohesion. Last but certainly not least we had the privilege of meeting with the BBC Russian Service team now based in Riga and our utmost respect and thanks to them for their continuing work reporting independent and impartial news to audiences around the world in Russian.
Massive thanks to the Latvian Parliament team and ambassador Paul Brummell and Embassy for facilitating an excellent programme and for providing the opportunity to meet informally with NGOs and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce with whom we discussed deepening trade and economic links. Thanks also to the ever patient and resilient Joe Perry from the IPU and following the visit members of the delegation are keen to establish an APPG for the Baltics to continue to strengthen the relationship between the UK and Latvia.
UK delegation meets State Secretary Latvian MFA, Andzejs Vilumson.
UK delegation led by Jessica Morden MP meets British Council in Riga
UK Delegation witnesses first-hand the operations of the NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia at the Adazi military base.
