The new embassy building is located at Pilsi Iela 8-10 in the Latvian capital's Old Town.

President Karis said: "It is not an everyday occurrence for a small country to have an embassy building constructed from the ground up based on its own original design. Estonia has only a few such embassies. This reflects how important Latvia is to us."

"This is a place where Estonian and Latvian ideas, initiatives, and partnerships meet. Starting in May, Estonia's new embassy will be home to a business center that will boost Estonian-Latvian economic cooperation," the Estonian head of state went on via a press release.

"The business center opening in May also signifies the changing nature of diplomacy. On one hand, diplomacy is an old and mature art. On the other hand, it is constantly evolving – we see how business and digital diplomacy are becoming increasingly important,"

President Karis also stressed the significance of the shared cultural and linguistic space between Estonia and Latvia, particularly with 2025 being the Year of the Book.

He said: "The beginning of our shared recent history was recorded in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia 800 years ago. Our common spiritual space began to take shape 500 years ago in a publication that contained texts in both Latvian and Estonian."

"The anniversaries of written word in our native languages remind us of this. And new chapters of that publication continue to be written – today, tomorrow, and the day after," Karis added.

The new embassy is also located in a highly symbolic spot in the Latvian capital's Old Town, just a few minutes from the presidential palace and not far from the Lutheran Riga Cathedral, which is also nearby.

The building cost €7.6 million, with just over €2 million of this coming from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility. €4.6 million was covered by the sale of the previous building.

Estonian Ambassador to Latvia Eerik Marmei said: "Estonia's contact with Latvia has been strong in all areas throughout history, be it security, business, culture, sports, or tourism. In recent years, joint procurements have taken place for the purchase of medium-range air defense, and the Baltic states are building a joint border defense zone."

Latvia is Estonia's second-largest trading partner, and the reverse is also the case.

Approximately 4,000 Estonian companies operate in Latvia.

"The embassy is a hub that will further strengthen our cooperation, building on our existing projects and promoting new opportunities for innovation, cultural exchange, and mutual benefit," ambassador Marmei added, noting that the new business center located in the embassy building offers new opportunities for both countries' businesspeople to enter each others' markets.

President Karis and President Rinkēvičš also on Wednesday discussed deepening cooperation, the Rail Baltica project, security, and the importance of continued support for Ukraine, as well as for boosting defense spending to 5 percent of GDP or more.

In addition to the two presidents, former Latvian presidents Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Valdis Zatlers, Andris Bērziņš, and Raimonds Vējonis all attended the opening session, as did current Foreign Minister of Latvia Baiba Braže.

"Aktuaalne kaamera" reported earlier in the week that the building was originally constructed as a computing center during the Soviet era and purchased by the Estonian state more than five years ago, retaining only its beams and a few partition walls following reconstruction — everything else is new, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

Another key aspect is that four of the current nine embassy staff members speak both Estonian and Latvian, while two more can understand both languages.
The renovation project was carried out by United Riga Architects, and the interior design was conceived by Kadri Tamme's interior architecture bureau.

Interior fixtures and fittings are Estonian-made, and include winning artwork of the Naalesak Kunsti art competition, "Oksad ja juured" ("Branches and roots").

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