Presentation of the Latvian Foreign and Security Policy Yearbook 2019

The presentation of the more than 200-page book, which contains 18 chapters dealing with the challenges and developments within the research field of foreign and security policy, once again attracted a diverse audience of politicians, experts, scientists and many other interested guests.

Also this time the focus was on Latvia's position within various alliances, primarily NATO and the EU. The focus was on how Latvia and the other Baltic neighbours can assert themselves and make their voices heard in a changing environment. Nevertheless, it is more important than ever to also think in terms of common European goals in foreign and security policy matters.

The event was opened by Andris Sprūds, Director of the Latvian Institute for International Affairs (LIIA) and Artis Dobulis, Project Manager of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Latvia. Rihards Kols, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian Parliament, and Andris Pelšs, State Secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave further brief overviews. This was followed by an exciting discussion in which Inna Šteinbuka, Professor at the University of Latvia and Special Advisor to the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova, Chair of the New Silk Road Programme (LIIA) and Toms Rostoks, Professor at the University of Latvia and Researcher at the National Defence Academy of Latvia, participated.

For the first time, a livestream from delfi.lv allowed more viewers to participate and, just like the listeners in the audience, to vote interactively via a website on three important questions concerning Latvia's positioning in international foreign and security policy. The answers were then displayed on a monitor and actively added to the panel discussion.

The Yearbook is supported by the Saeima, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Latvia.