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Targeted investments in technology and innovation are significant not only to ensure that the Baltic States recover from the crisis created by the COVID‑19 pandemic as quickly as possible, but also to draw from this experience and strengthen the competitiveness of our countries and their economies on an international scale, said Jānis Vucāns, the newly elected President of the Baltic Assembly (BA) and Head of the Latvian delegation to the organisation, at the 40th Session of the BA in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania.
“The COVID‑19 crisis has been and remains a challenging time for the Baltic States. Unfortunately, because of the crisis, many important issues have been neglected, as our countries were constantly dealing with the effects of the virus,” said Vucāns, emphasising that the BA will continue to work towards the economic and social stability and swift recovery of the Baltic States in the economic and social fields.
Stable economic development can also be achieved if all three Baltic States engage within large scale European science, technology, and innovation organisations, such as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the European Space Agency. It is also important that we use the cooperation experience of the BA partner organisation countries, added Vucāns.
“The priorities of the Latvian Presidency in the Baltic Assembly are based on a common worldview, interests, and objectives,” said Vucāns, stressing that, in 2022, the BA will focus on three priority areas: first, rapid recovery and sustainable growth of the Baltic States; second, socially protected people living in a safe and resilient Baltic region; and, third, interconnected and innovative Baltic States.
Additionally, Vucāns underscored the need for the BA, together with the governments of the Baltic States, to find the best possible strategy for the implementation of the European Green Deal in the region, as well as to strengthen cooperation with international partners.
At the annual Session of the BA, parliamentarians of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania discussed the energy security of the Baltic States and security challenges at the Eastern border of the European Union. The security of the Baltic States is the security of the entire European Union, stressed the parliamentarians, underlining the need for even closer coordination in facing the challenges posed by the regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The parliamentarians also discussed joint action to mitigate the effects of the COVID‑19 crisis and adopted the BA resolution at the end of the Session. Among other points, the Resolution calls on the parliaments and governments of the Baltic States and the Baltic Council of Ministers to prepare a joint long-term plan for addressing the crisis created by COVID-19 in the health care sector, as well as to evaluate and draw conclusions about the vaccination strategies, their execution, and crisis communication. The need for an assessment of the impact of COVID‑19 on the poverty-stricken and vulnerable groups in the Baltic societies is also highlighted.
At the end of the Session, the newly elected President of the BA Jānis Vucāns assured that, upon assuming Presidency in the BA, Latvia is committed to strengthening the dialogue, mutual trust, and confidence of the Baltic states in order to face the current challenges together.
At the BA Session in Vilnius, the Saeima was represented by Jānis Vucāns, Head of the Latvian delegation, Inese Voika, Deputy Head of the Latvian delegation, as well as members of the delegation Dagmāra Beitnere-Le Galla, Ilze Indriksone, Regīna Ločmele, and Reinis Znotiņš.
About the Baltic Assembly:
The Baltic Assembly is an inter-parliamentary cooperation organisation of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania established on 8 November 1991. The Baltic Assembly consists of national delegations – 12 to 16 members from each country’s parliament. It is a coordinating and consultative organisation which has a right to express its opinion to the national parliaments and governments of the Baltic States, as well as the Baltic Council of Ministers, in the form of resolutions, decisions, declarations and recommendations; it also has a right to request the above-mentioned bodies to provide information on cross-border issues that are high on the Baltic Assembly’s agenda.
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Saeima Press Service