In communication with the countries of the Global South, Latvia must refute Russia’s false claims about its war in Ukraine and other matters, Minister of Foreign Affairs Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) said today at the joint session of the Saeima’s Foreign Affairs Commission and European Affairs Commission.
He emphasized that parallel to Latvia’s work on strengthening NATO and the European Union (EU), we also need friends in other regions of the world. Therefore, Latvia will activate communication with the global south, i.e. the countries of Central America, South America, Africa and Asia.
Currently, the Russian narrative about the war in Ukraine is being spread “very successfully” in these countries. At the same time, Kariņš evaluates the negotiations with the representatives of the countries of the Global South positively. The representatives of these countries note that Russia “says something else” about its own war against Ukraine, so Latvia needs to point out what is actually happening, which would refute Russia’s claims, the foreign minister said.
Kariņš also reiterated that the world is becoming more and more unstable, both with the continuation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the “Hamas”-Israel war, as well as with Russia strengthening its positions in some African countries.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also drew attention to the fact that Russia’s war machine has been activated at full capacity, as Russia reorients itself to a war economy. Kariņš pointed out that Russia does not produce the most accurate weapons in the world, but it produces weapons on a mass scale.
Latvia’s security in this situation is made up of several things, including the fact that we are part of the European Union (EU) and NATO, that there is a joint group of soldiers of ten allied countries on the territory of our countries, as well as other allies – the US forces and the Danish rotational forces, noted the politician . Canadian politicians have also just reaffirmed that they will work on increasing the forces in Latvia to the level of a brigade.
Kariņš emphasized that we have increased the defense budget for 2024, reaching 2.4% of the gross domestic product and moving towards 3% of GDP in 2027.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that we are financing the purchase of air defense systems and coastal defense artillery, that we have introduced the general defense service, and the number of national guardsmen is also growing.
Kariņš also drew attention to the promotion of Western relations with Georgia and Armenia, which is said to be very disappointed in Russia in connection with not receiving the necessary support in the region and is currently very actively looking for connections with Western countries.
At the beginning of the session, Kariņš emphasized that the Minister of Foreign Affairs would very much like to listen to the written recommendations of the deputies for the preparation of the report, and if necessary, write them in the text of the document.
The commission today, questioning Kariņa and later the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discussed the draft of the annual report on the accomplished and planned activities in the country’s foreign policy and European Union issues in 2023.
For the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Kariņas, who was confirmed in his position in September, this could be the first report that should be presented in the Saeima debate at the beginning of 2024.
2023-12-13 12:50:18
#Kariņš #world #unstable
