Baltics celebrate 75 years of unity treaty

VILNIUS- On Sept. 12, the 75th anniversary of signing the Treaty on Unity and Cooperation by Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on 12 September 1934 at the session of the United Nations in Geneva will be commemorated.

In the opinion of Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Usackas, the first trilateral Treaty embedded the idea of the unity of the Baltic States and laid the foundations for a strategic dialogue of the Baltic States, which is successfully continued till now.

Even though during the pre-war period not all the provisions of this Treaty were implemented, after the re-establishment of the independence of the Baltic States, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia started a new phase of trilateral relations on the basis of the above-mentioned Treaty, established joint institutions for cooperation of their Parliaments and Governments. This year Lithuania chairs the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers.

With the Treaty on Unity and Cooperation of the Baltic States, signed in 1934 by Foreign Ministers, the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia committed to "to work together in foreign policy matters of mutual importance and to provide mutual assistance in political and diplomatic matters in their international relations."

The Baltic States followed the Treaty of 1934 also when they were re-establishing their independence, providing a legal basis for mutual cooperation and highlighting the continuity of their statehood.

On 12 May 1990 in Tallinn, heads of the Parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed the Declaration on Unity and Cooperation by the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia, which renewed the Treaty on Unity and Cooperation of 1934. The Treaty was not in effect anymore, because it was illegally suspended in 1940.

The Declaration also announced about the creation of the Council of Baltic States. This institution of cooperation of the Baltic States, created during the period of re-establishment of independence, was replaced by the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers in 1994.

Today through the activities of these institutions, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are continuing their regional cooperation, while strengthening close political, economic, and cultural, science, education and other relations, and coordinate their activities in the European Union and NATO.