In the meeting, the interlocutors dedicated a lot of attention to Russian aggression against Ukraine and to the implementation of NATO’s decisions taken at the 2014 Wales Summit and the 2016 Warsaw Summit in response to Russia’s actions.
The U.S. National Security Advisor highlighted the participation of the United States and other allies in NATO’s enhanced forward presence initiative. The Baltic Foreign Ministers stressed the strategic importance of a permanent and long-term presence of U.S. troops in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on a bilateral basis.
The three Baltic Foreign Ministers confirmed the Baltic countries’ commitments to strengthen defence capabilities, resilience of societies and national resilience, and to continue supporting the U.S.-led global coalition to counter the Islamic State.
The interlocutors discussed the United States and the international community’s effort and plans for a political settlement of the conflict in Syria, as well as the implementation of stabilization activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition, the officials also discussed issues related to further provision of assistance for Ukraine – all sides reiterated their readiness to continue the implementation of their national programs to provide support to Ukraine in the fields of defence, anti-corruption and security sector reform.
During the discussion, the officials agreed on key issues of bilateral, regional and Euro-Atlantic security in the permanent, regular U.S.-Baltic dialogue, including cooperation in the field of cybersecurity, energy and information security, also in further development of deterrence and defence measures in the Baltic region.
