NATO members have a moral obligation to increase military support for Ukraine

“We need to reduce our vulnerability and dependency, as well as increase investment in defense. Latvia continues to invest in developing military capabilities and infrastructure to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank and is grateful to the Allies for their presence in Latvia,” he said the Latvian Foreign Minister.

Discussing China, the foreign minister said it was seen as a long-term challenge. He noted that in recent years the alliance has made significant efforts to develop an understanding of China’s ambitions and the relevance of its policies to our interests, security and values.

“We must continue to adjust our response accordingly. China’s global and regional behavior and assertiveness pose challenges and risks to our security. We must continue to carefully evaluate the strategic partnership between China and Russia, which could have consequences unpredictable geopolitics,” Rinkevičs stressed.

The minister also acknowledged that the alliance alone cannot solve the complex challenges posed by China, therefore Latvia supports in-depth cooperation with Asian and Pacific partners and the European Union.

At the same time, during the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, the minister, together with his colleagues from Estonia and Lithuania, met with British Foreign Minister James Cleverley. During the meeting, Rinkēvičs highly appreciated Britain’s contribution to strengthening the security of the Baltic region, and also expressed his interest in promoting interoperability of military forces and bilateral defense cooperation.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia also had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, in which Rinkēvičs thanked the Czech Republic for participating in the NATO battlegroup in Latvia and expressed a wish to deepen the cooperation between the military industry companies of the two countries.

The minister attended the G7+ format meeting of foreign ministers on support for Ukraine, as well as a solemn event in honor of the 2002 Prague Summit, where NATO membership negotiations were launched with seven countries: Bulgaria , Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. This process ended in 2004 with the admission of these countries to the organization.