On Wednesday (16 October 2024), at his official residence in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Siliņa, to discuss further strengthening NATO's defences and NATO's continued support to Ukraine.
Mr. Rutte praised Latvia for its many contributions to the Alliance. "You spend almost 3 percent of GDP on defence, you host a multinational battlegroup where Allies work side by side to defend NATO's eastern flank, as well as military exercises to ensure that Latvian and Allied armed forces maintain a high level of readiness and interoperability," said Mr Rutte at the joint press conference with Prime Minister Siliņa. He referred to Latvia's commitment to increase defence spending to 3 percent of GDP and noted Riga's ambition to reach this goal even sooner than expected. Mr. Rutte also commended Latvia for its contributions to NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and NATO's training mission in Iraq.
On Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the Secretary General reiterated that "we must deliver on the commitments we made at the Washington Summit," noting that Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure with winter just around the corner. He recalled that "Latvia has provided extensive military training for Ukrainian soldiers" and leads a coalition that works with industry to supply drones. "I welcome your recent announcement of a new military aid package, including armoured personnel vehicles," added Mr. Rutte.
