High level officials to attend the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Welcome Ceremony in Latvia

On Monday, 19 June, Raimonds Vejonis, the President of the Republic of Latvia, Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, Raimonds Bergmanis, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, and Harjit Sajjan, the Minister of National Defence of Canada, will address soldiers at the enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Welcome Ceremony at the Camp Adazi in Latvia.

Inara Murniece, the Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, Major General Leonids Kalnins, the Chief of Defence of the National Armed Forces, representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers, other high level officials of Latvia and representatives of the diplomatic corps will also participate in the Welcome Ceremony.

General Sir James Everard, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, leadership of NATO military commands, General Jonathan H. Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff of Canada, and chiefs of defence of the troop-contributing nations will attend the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Welcome Ceremony, as well.

Units of the armed forces of Canada, Albania, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and Latvia will take part in the military parade march which will be held during the solemn ceremony.

At 14.05 (Eastern European Summer Time), the joint press conference by the President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis and Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will be held at the Camp Adazi. The press conference will be webstreamed live on the NATO website www.nato.int.

The NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Welcome Ceremony will mark the successful completion of the enhanced Forward Presence deployments to the Baltic States and Poland.

The NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion in Latvia will be led by Canada whose military personnel will also form the core of the battalion. The battalion will be manned also by Albania, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain, in total, more than 1000 soldiers.

At the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July 2016, the Heads of State and Governments agreed to deploy multinational battlegroups to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The deployment of NATO enhanced Forward Presence battalion in Latvia follows an agreement by NATO Allies to strengthen deterrence and collective defence in the Baltic region.

Information prepared by:
Media Relations Section
MILITARY PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia
Phone: (+371) 6 7335045
E-mail: prese@mod.gov.lv