The Riga Conference 2018 commences with questions on our future
28th -29th of September, the largest security and foreign policy forums in the Baltic Sea region – The Rīga Conference 2018 – commences at the National Library of Latvia. Over the two days the conference welcomed heads of states, experts, diplomats, academics and media representatives together with some 700 experts from around the world discussing touching questions to the Western alliances.
The conference was opened by President of the Republic of Latvia H.E Mr Raimonds Vējonis. The former President of the Republic of Latvia, Prof. Dr. Vaira Vīķe Freiberga, together with the former Minister of National Defence of Poland, Mr Antoni Macierewicz, and Director of the International Centre for Defence and Security, Mr Sven Sakkov will look back over the last century, seeing what lessons we can learn and whether sovereignty of states in Europe can be secured in a hostile environment.
The second panel whether we can count on NATO for the century ahead. The ministers of Defence of Latvia and Lithuania, Mr Raimonds Bergmanis and Mr. Raimundas Karoblis, respectively, will join Lt.Gen (Ret.) Frederick Benjamin Hodges, of CEPA and Prof. Dr Julian Lindley-French to assess whether NATO can remain an important player in defence of peace in the region.
The first day of the conference was concluded by understanding the mid-term economic outlook for the European Union. The Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, Mr Valdis Dombrovskis, together with Ms Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Latvia, Mr Christian Whiton, Senior Vice President at Banner Public Affairs, and Prof Dr Michael Eilfort of Market Economy Foundation provided their opinions.
The conference discussions will be streamed live on the DELFI portal/ our informative partner portals and The Rīga Conference 2018 website www.rigaconference.lv. As always, the online audience is encouraged to participate in discussions via Twitter, using #RigaConf18. The language of the conference is English.
Arūnas Molis professor of Political Science and Diplomacy and lecturer Donatas Vainalavičius participated in a conference.