Rose Gottemoeller, NATO Deputy Secretary General, spent two days trip in Latvia while her visiting the Alliance multinational battlegroup in Ādaži. Led by Canada, the battlegroup is one of four operational in the NATO eastern part, close to Russia.
The NATO Deputy Secretary General arrived Latvia on Thursday, she was welcomed by Latvian State Secretary for Defence Jānis Garisons. Starting her visit to Latvia, Gottemoeller addressed the multinational force, which serves with Latvian troops to defend the Alliance and deter aggression.
The Canadian-led force in Ādaži includes troops and equipment from Albania, Italy, Poland, Slovakia Slovenia, Spain and soon the Czech Republic. The Deputy Secretary-General was also joined by senior diplomats from these countries.
“We are NATO. Many of us, as individuals and as nations, working together as one Alliance,”
said Gottemoeller in her address and thanked Latvia for contributing to the battlegroup in Ādaži. the NATO Dep SG also praised Canada for serving as the lead nation in this region.
Rose Gottemoeller noted that Ādaži multinational force demonstrates the strength of NATO’s transatlantic bond and ability to react quickly.
NATO Deputy SG visited Riga Graduate School of Law
The second day of Rose Gottemoeller’s visit to Latvia had very tight schedule, the NATO Deputy SG held talks in Riga – Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andrejs Pildegovičs, State Secretary for Defence Jānis Garisons, and the Chairman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Ojārs Kalniņš have discussed the issue of defence and security as well as financial aspects.
Latvia’s contributions to NATO are very impressive, said Gottemoeller, the post-Soviet country is hosting a multinational battlegroup to supporting the Alliance’s Resolute Support Mission. NATO Deputy Secretary General highly appreciated Latvia’s commitment to increase defence spending to 2 percent of GDP this year.
Later on Friday, Rose Gottemoeller gave a speech to students at the Riga Graduate School of Law. In Riga, NATO Deputy SG also visited the Centre of Excellence for Strategic Communications, engaging in discussions on countering disinformation.
