The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, begins today a tour of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, during which she will hold meetings at the highest level and which will coincide with the centenary of diplomatic relations with the three Baltic countries.
The tour will begin in Lithuania, the first trip by a top-level Spanish authority to this country since 2018, where the minister will be received by the Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nauseda; the Prime Minister, Ingrida Simonyte; the Speaker of Parliament, Viktorija Cmilyté-Nielsen (who will be accompanied by the Minister of Finance, Gintaré Skaiste); and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielus Landsbergis.
According to Foreign Affairs, the trip comes at “a key moment in Spanish-Lithuanian relations”, which will experience in 2022 “a very significant date, in the framework of a triple commemoration”: the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the thirtieth anniversary of the restoration of these relations and the success of the Lithuanian basketball team in the Barcelona Olympic Games, “of great significance due to the following of this sport in the country”.
Another element highlighted in the Baltic country is the presence of the Spanish Armed Forces both in Lithuania and in the rest of the region, a “presence that is especially appreciated and valued as a contribution to the defense of these countries and of the eastern flank of NATO”. “This participation in military missions in the field is a fundamental axis of bilateral relations with each of the countries that the Minister will visit during her tour”, the Ministry added.
Military presence will also be a prominent component of the second tour stop, Latvia, a trip that will also take place on the eve of the commemoration of the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and will coincide with the 30th anniversary of their restoration.
During her stay in Riga, the Minister will meet the President of the Republic, Egis Levits, the Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins, the Speaker of Parliament, Inara Murniece, and her counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkevics. She will also have the opportunity to talk with senior military commanders of the Enhanced Forward Presence mission, located at the Adazi base, where more than three hundred Spanish military personnel are participating.
The last stop of the tour will be Estonia, where González Laya will be received by her counterpart, Eva-Maria Liimets; by the Prime Minister Kaja Kallas; by the President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament, Marko Mihkelson; and by the President of the Republic, Kersti Kaljulaid. The presence of the Minister in Tallinn also takes place in the context of the celebration of the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and Estonia, which took place last March 8 and on the occasion of which President Kaljulaid paid an official visit to Madrid. Spanish troops are also present in Estonia as part of NATO’s Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, of which Spain is not only a founding member, but is also at the head of the Operations Command.
