On 19 April, Baltic Development together with the Konrad-Adenauer Foundations’ regional office to the Nordic States in cooperation, had the pleasure of organizing a round table discussion in Riga, Latvia.
The event provided an opportunity for an informal exchange of views on the key challenges in the Baltic Sea Region and a joint discussion on possible regional responses. Among the participants were embassy and think-tank representatives from different countries of the region.
Ambassador Andris Razans, Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Latvia, provided his view on the new challenges that the Baltic Sea Region is facing in the light of recent events around the US Elections and BREXIT.
This was followed by a broad discussion on this new situation, with very different views being expressed from Germany, Poland, the Baltic states, the Nordic countries and Russia.
The event was part of a series of round tables resulting in expert papers that will provide the basis for the Political State of the Region Report 2017. The authors of the report captured the discussions from the day, and spent the afternoon after the round table working towards the final text for the report.
The 2017 Political State of the Region Report will be launched at the 19th BDF Summit in Berlin, 13 June. Previous editions are available here.