Leadership of the defence sector thanks NATO eFP troops for service to Latvia

On Tuesday, 21 November, at 11:00, Latvia’s Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis and Lt Gen Leonīds Kalniņš, Chief of the Defence Staff, will present national commanders of NATO eFP group medals. These medals will be passed on to eFP battle group troops in recognition of their service in scope of their Latvian rotation since June.

During the ceremony, leadership of the defence sector will thank national commanders of NATO eFP battle group Latvia for active presence of their troops and input in strengthening the regional security. Ceremony will be held regularly, starting a new tradition of honouring troops who are finishing their rotation in Latvia.

Awarding of the medals of recognition will be attended by Col Atis Ilmārs Lejiņš, Commander of Land Force Mechanised Infantry Brigade.

As reported earlier, during the 2016 NATO Warsaw Summit heads of states and governments agreed to deploy multinational battalion-size battle groups in the Baltic countries and Poland. Such battle groups were created and deployed to promote the implementation of NATO’s deterrence strategy and strengthen the Alliance’s collective defence.

The welcoming ceremony of NATO eFP troops at Ādaži military base took place on 19 June 2017.

Canada-led NATO enhanced forward presence battle group Latvia consists of over 1 000 troops from countries such as Albania, Italy, Canada, Poland, Slovenia and Spain. These troops have been rotated to Latvia to conduct joint military training with Latvia’s Armed Forces and thus enhance the interoperability with Allied forces at the regional level and ability to respond to various security challenges.

Media Relations Section
MILITARY PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia
Phone: (+371)6 7335039
E-mail: prese@mod.gov.lv