President Karis at 3SI summit: Ukraine links with Europe must be strengthened

Infrastructure priorities for Estonia include the completion of Rail Baltica by 2030 and the synchronization of the country's electricity network with the Central European system, President Alar Karis said this week, as well as aiding Ukraine in further integrating with Europe.
Speaking at the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit in Vilnius Thursday, President Karis said: "Rail Baltica has become a geopolitical necessity for us."
"It is the most important transport corridor on the eastern flank of NATO, providing communication infrastructure along the full extent of its route," he added.
President Karis noted that Estonia intends to join the Central European electricity system as soon as possible, in order to achieve complete independence from Russian energy. Up to now the Baltic states' electricity grids have been synchronized with those of Russia and Belarus.
"3SI aims to bring the countries on the Baltic, Black and Adriatic seas together in a line from north to south," the president said. "That is a market of more than 100 million people. Within the framework of the initiative we must also help to repair Ukraine's infrastructure and establish better road and rail connections between it and the rest of Europe," he went on.
President Karis stressed the need to use every available option to assist Ukraine, which is not a full 3SI member, but is an associate member - President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended the Vilnius summit, as did the prime minister of Moldova, Dorin Recean. Moldova, too, is a 3SI associate member and has a Black Sea coast.
3SI member states adopted a declaration in Vilnius summit underscoring the need to support both Ukraine and Moldova on their journey towards EU accession, reiterating their condemnation of Russia's war against Ukraine and its people and repeating their unwavering support for Ukraine, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
The declaration also states that 3SI countries will further increase pressure on Russia, including by tightening sanctions and combating Russia's evasion of these.
President Karis also noted that the Baltic Sea is thought to be capable of generating around 90 gigawatts of offshore wind energy. "To make the most of that potential we must join forces to build new connections, which I know is something we are already working towards," he said.
He also urged all member states to sign up to an IT coalition launched by Estonia and Luxembourg to support the creation of the secure ICT infrastructure Ukraine needs and to boost the country's cyber defense capabilities.
Ten countries had already signed up, and €45 million had been raised to this end, the Estonian head of state said.
As an initiative, 3SI is designed to improve civilian infrastructure so as to boost national economies, support military mobility and promote the development of the transport, energy and digital sectors through greater regional connectivity.
Roughly corresponding in area to a much earlier proposed Intermarium union, the 3SI is a regional cooperation format bringing together 13 EU Member States which lie between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic seas, ie. the three seas referred to in its name, and either have coastlines on one of those three seas or are landlocked countries in the area (in the case of Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia).
One of the main challenges facing the 3SI is creating infrastructure links which work well north to south, as opposed to the predominant east to west links which have existed up to now.
Nations from further afield can also take part in the 3SI as strategic partners; for instance Japan was officially represented at the Vilnius summit, in that capacity.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia.