On Tuesday, 6 December, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s annual Transatlantic Forum was held in Washington, D.C., commemorating Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš (1949-2021), Member of the Saeima, a long-standing diplomat and politician. O.Ē.Kalniņš chaired the Saeima delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly for many years.

On Friday, 2 December, Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, met with Elnur Sultanov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Latvia, and suggested seeking new opportunities for cooperation and expanding dialogue in areas of high added value.

On Thursday, 1 December, the Saeima adopted urgent amendments to the Cabinet Structure Law in the second and final reading in order to introduce the Ministry and Minister of Climate and Energy.

On Thursday, 1 December, the Saeima adopted in the second and final reading urgent amendments to the State Administration Structure Law, establishing the position of a deputy minister.

“This is a difficult time, but it is also a time of opportunity. Latvia and Lithuania must find new avenues for cooperation and speed up ongoing projects of strategic importance,” highlighted Speaker Smiltēns during his meeting with Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Parliament of Lithuania, in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, on Tuesday, 29 November.

“The European Union and its member states are facing increasingly serious hybrid threats, including disinformation, cyber-attacks, and threats to energy security. These threats are a part of a broader strategy implemented by Russia in an attempt to undermine our democracies and impact our decisions,” said Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, during a meeting with Florin-Alexandru Alexe, Vice‑Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Romania, in Bucharest on Monday, 28 November.

Our common goal is furthering regional integration. In other words, we must work to achieve increasingly seamless borders between the Baltic States, so that the people living, working, or relaxing in a neighbouring country on a daily basis would encounter increasingly less inconvenience and bureaucratic obstacles. This was highlighted by Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, during a meeting with Jüri Ratas, Speaker of the Estonian Parliament, in Vilnius, capital of Estonia, on Tuesday, 22 November.

“How fast and how smart Latvia will grow depends on our courage and our work—every day, as we make big and small decisions in our families, in our businesses, in our municipalities, and in our country. Based on the simple but firm belief that Latvia is who we are”, stressed Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Friday, 18 November 2022, at the ceremonial sitting of the Saeima in honour of the 104th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Latvia.

In its Statement regarding the Russia-made missile exploding in the territory of the Republic of Poland, the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly (BA) expresses concern over the latest dangerous escalation by Russia that has resulted in the death of two Polish citizens in the village of Przewodów.