Estonia chairs Baltic cooperation formats in 2023

National flags of the three Baltic States, from left, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
National flags of the three Baltic States, from left, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Source: Siim Lõvi /ERR

Estonia takes over the rotating chairmanship of the Baltic Council of Ministers and the Baltic Assembly this year and will coordinate joint activities with Latvia and Lithuania.

Continued support to Ukraine, regional security and defense, and energy security and security of supply will be Estonia's chairmanship priorities, Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa) said.

"Last year demonstrated that we are strong together and I am convinced that Baltic cooperation towards common goals will continue just as efficiently this year," he said in a statement.

The chair must coordinate cooperation between the governments and parliaments of the three countries over the course of the year.

The formats started in the 1920s and 1930s after Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia gained their independence.

Cooperation intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the internationally known Baltic Way, which saw the three countries create a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius, was instigated through the group on August 23, 1989.

Over the last 30 years, intergovernmental and interparliamentary structures were established to boost cooperation.

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Editor: Helen Wright

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