TALLINN – Next week, the representatives and the speakers of the Baltic parliaments as well as the ministers of foreign affairs of the Baltic states will come together in Tallinn for the 42nd session of the Baltic Assembly (BA) and the Baltic Council.
The session will begin on Thursday, Nov. 23, with a ceremony where the Baltic Assembly prizes will be presented. This year, the Baltic Assembly prize in the arts was awarded 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, Nov. 24, 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 Andrius Kupcinskas and Janis Vucans.
The Baltic Council, the cooperation assembly of the governments and the parliaments of the Baltic states, will also meet on Friday. The 29th Baltic Council will be chaired by chairman of the co-operation council of the Baltic Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna and president of the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov. The foreign ministers of Lithuania and Latvia, Gabrielius Landsbergis and Krisjanis Karins, will also deliver speeches.
On Friday at 1 p.m., a press conference will be held in the White Hall of the Riigikogu, where it will be possible to pose questions to the heads of the delegations and foreign ministers of the Baltic states. Immediately before the press conference, the head of the Estonian delegation to the BA and the minister of foreign affairs will sign the joint statement of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers.
The BA session will continue in the afternoon, and 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 (Interparliamentary Assembly of the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania) is a consultative cooperation organization of the parliaments of the three Baltic states that discusses issues of mutual interest. In 2023, the presidency of the Baltic Assembly was held by Estonia; in 2024, Lithuania will hold the presidency. The head of the Estonian delegation to the BA is Timo Suslov and 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.
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