Today, the Canadian Armed Forces marks the 5th anniversary of leading NATO's multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Latvia.
Following Russia's invasion of Crimea, NATO Allies agreed at the 2016 Summit in Warsaw to establish an enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in the eastern part of the Alliance, in order to strengthen deterrence measures.
Canada, as the Framework Nation for eFP in Latvia, is responsible for leading a ten-nation multinational battle group composed of Albania, Canada, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, and for coordinating with Latvia and the contributing nations to help set the tone, pace and vision for this Battle Group.
The eFP Battle Group works within the Latvian Armed Forces' infantry brigade, conducting joint training to be able to respond effectively to an attack and remains a tangible reminder that an attack against one NATO member is an attack against all members.
In March 2022, Canada also announced its intent to renew its multi-year commitment to Operation REASSURANCE.
During her recent visit to Brussels, Defence Minister Anita Anand joined with other contributing nations to eFP, as well as the Latvian Minister of Defence, Artis Pabriks, to mark this anniversary of the Battle Group, which formed part of the biggest reinforcement of NATO's collective defence in a generation.
