In the meeting, the Foreign Ministers of the Baltic states thanked the United States for its consistent support and for maintaining military presence, as well as reiterated Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia’s to increase defence spending to 2 percent of GDP, and to participate in the global coalition against the Islamic State.
The U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson thanked for the qualitative contribution of the Baltic states to the fight against international terrorism and agreed with the statements voiced by the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Foreign Ministers regarding the importance of strengthening the North Atlantic Alliance and transatlantic cooperation, the implementation of the decisions made at the Warsaw Summit, cybersecurity, energy security, strategic communications and economic relations, as well as the surveillance of Russian actions on the border.
The meeting also discussed international trade agreements – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP).
Linkevičius stressed that the U.S. was Lithuania’s key strategic ally within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “Strategic partnership relationships with the U.S. and a permanent U.S. presence in the Baltic countries will continue to be our countries’ foreign policy priority,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.
Linkevičius noted that Lithuania was ready to continue to participate in the global coalition against ISIS together with the U.S. and doubled its contribution in this field.
The U.S. Secretary of State assured the Baltic Foreign Ministers that the U.S. remained committed to the principle of collective defence that was enshrined in NATO’s Article 5, as well as to ensuring security of the Baltic states and a continued U.S. presence. According to Tillerson, the U.S. welcomes the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure in the Baltic region and of the LNG terminal in Klaipėda. The U.S. Secretary of State also reassured the Baltic Ministers that the new U.S. administration’s goal was to increase gas export capacities.
The U.S. Secretary of State thanked the Baltic Foreign Ministers for their useful meeting and ensured them that he would also meet with the Foreign Ministers in Brussels that week.
