Baltic Assembly in Tallinn to focus on impacts of Russia's aggression against Ukraine

TALLINN - The representatives and the speakers of the Baltic parliaments, and the ministers of foreign affairs of the Baltic states will come together in the Riigikogu, the parliament of Estonia, for the 42nd session of the Baltic Assembly and the 29th Baltic Council on Friday to discuss effective civil defense as well as the impacts of Russia's aggression against Ukraine on economy.

President of the Baltic Assembly (BA) Timo Suslov thinks that the year of the Estonian presidency of the BA has been marked by the continuation of building a resilient, secure, reliable and sustainable Baltic region.

"This is especially important as there is a war going on in Europe. On the one hand, Russia's war in Ukraine made the Baltic states reassess their security and encouraged us to patch up the gaps in the security capabilities of our countries. At the same time, the Baltic states must remain united and unwaveringly strong in their support for Ukraine and work to expose the true face of Russia," Suslov underlined. "We warned time and again about Russia, but unfortunately no one believed us. Now, seeing that the parties are getting tired and priorities are changing, we, the Baltic parliamentarians, must continue this important work with determination and consistency.”

Suslov added that such organizations of parliamentary cooperation like the Baltic Assembly are of help in resolving global crises and he is happy to note that over the years, the Baltic Assembly has proven to be an excellent way to bring together parliamentarians from different parts of the world.

The meeting of parliamentarians will begin on Thursday with an award ceremony where the Baltic Assembly prizes and medals are awarded. This year, the Baltic Assembly Prize in the Arts went to to Estonian artist Peeter Laurits for his outstanding and diverse artistic work and the project "Biotoopia." The Prize in Literature was awarded to Lithuanian translator and poet Antanas A. Jonynas for his collection of sonnets "Naujieji sonetai." The Prize in Science was awarded to Latvian musicologist Arnolds Laimonis Klotins for his monographs on music and creative life in post-war Stalinist Latvia and the Latvian music life in exile in Europe during the same period. The ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. at the Concert Hall of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater.

On Friday, the meeting of the presidium of the Baltic Assembly and the speakers of the national parliaments of the Baltic states will take place in the Riigikogu. After that, at 10 a.m., the 42nd session of the BA will be opened. At the opening of the session, the speakers of the parliaments of the Baltic states will deliver speeches. The session will be chaired by the president of the Baltic Assembly, Timo Suslov, and vice-presidents of the BA Andrius Kupcinskas and Janis Vucans.

The Baltic Council, the cooperation assembly of the governments and the parliaments of the Baltic states, will hold its 29th meeting on Friday. The sitting of the Baltic Council will be chaired by chairman of the Co-operation Council of the Baltic Council of Ministers, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna and President of the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov. Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and Latvia Krisjanis Karins will also deliver speeches.

On Friday, the president of the BA and chair of the Baltic Council of Ministers will sign a joint statement of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers. The BA session will continue in the afternoon. At the afternoon session, the impacts of Russia's aggression against Ukraine on economy as well as effective civil defense will be discussed. At the end of the session, the new president of the Baltic Assembly will be elected, and the resolution and the final documents of the 42nd session of the Baltic Assembly will be signed. After the end of the session, Estonia will hand over the presidency of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers to Lithuania.

The Baltic Assembly is a consultative cooperation organization of the parliaments of the three Baltic States which discusses issues of mutual interest. The head of the Estonian delegation to the BA is Timo Suslov, the deputy head is Enn Eesmaa. The members of the delegation are Arvo Aller, Karmen Joller, Meelis Kiili, Lauri Laats, Priit Lomp, Tiit Maran, Helir-Valdor Seeder, Riina Solman, Margit Sutrop and Peeter Tali.