Latvian president urges investment in stronger logistics and coordinated energy strategy in Three Seas region

RIGA - It is essential to invest in stronger logistics, better digital connectivity, and a coordinated energy strategy in the Three Seas region, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics believes.

As the president's spokesman Martins Dregeris told LETA, Rinkevics is attending the annual Three Seas Initiative Summit and Business Forum in Dubrovnik, Croatia, this Tuesday and Wednesday. At the Three Seas Initiative Summit, Rinkevics stressed the need to focus all efforts in the next decade on strengthening the strategic pillars of the initiative: energy security, connectivity and digital transformation.

The president believes it is important to strengthen North-South links across the Three Seas region by diversifying supply chains and building stronger and deeper partnerships. He noted that this requires investment in stronger logistics, better digital connectivity, and a coordinated energy strategy.

Rinkevics also participated in the Presidents' Panel of the Three Seas Initiative Business Forum together with colleagues from Czechia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

At the forum, Rinkevics stressed the importance of the Three Seas region, which will only grow in the future, and the need to continue developing strategic projects in the three development pillars. Rinkevics said that the involvement of the private sector and cooperation within the region and with transatlantic partners would play an important role.

The Three Seas Initiative is an economic cooperation platform established in 2016 and composed of 13 European Union (EU) countries geographically located between the Adriatic, Baltic, and Black Seas: Latvia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The initiative is designed to develop physical infrastructure projects and bridge connectivity gaps in energy, transport, and digital infrastructure in the North-South region of the EU.

Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, and Montenegro are associated partners in the Three Seas Initiative, while the US, Germany, Japan, Spain, Turkey and the European Commission are strategic partners.