Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you honourable members of the committee for providing this opportunity to speak to and engage with you. I would also like to use this opportunity to invite your committee to visit Latvia. This is an official invitation. Please do. There is a lot t

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a great question. With regard to engagement, the young generation in particular are very vulnerable. In the 21st century, the speed of information is immense. It's hard to define what is real and what is not real. It's very easy to manipulate people's minds and hearts. When

Foreign Affairs committee  I have a final comment on the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia. I think that issue will naturally die out with the change of new generations. Among the younger generation of Russian-speaking youth, 93% or more speak Latvian fluently. Even if you go to regions that are populate

Foreign Affairs committee  To answer this question, I have to go back into history, and I also have to specify, when we talk about the Russian minority, do you mean ethnic Russian or Russian-speaking?

Foreign Affairs committee  That is important because Russian-speaking also includes Belarusians and Ukrainians as well, in Latvia. If we talk about ethnic Russians, ethnic Russian minorities in Latvia account for 10% of our population. When we talk about the Russian-speaking population, then it's around 3

Foreign Affairs committee  On the Nord Stream, we have a very clear position. We oppose such a project that undermines the sovereignty of certain countries in Europe. They will become more dependent on Russian gas as well. It's in violation of the EU Energy Union principles as well and, of course, it's int

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a very topical and good question, particularly because we are now facing the European Parliament elections. Again, there is a fear that populism will be boosted even more, particularly in spreading these fears and phobias, across the European continent. Talking about Latvia

Foreign Affairs committee  I totally agree with you. We all know that cybersecurity and cyberspace have no borders, and there are no regulations whatsoever in cyberspace. Therefore, just implementing some measures in one region of the world won't solve the issue. It has to be a very compact and global solu

Foreign Affairs committee  As I've rightly pointed out, Canada has shown, in very crucial times in my view, a very strong leadership. A fine example is the Brussels summit. I had the chance to be present over there, not at the summit itself, but they had a side event called NATO Engages. I had the opportun

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning. Mr. Chair, your outline took away a few lines that I had in my speech. Nevertheless, thank you very much for having me here today. It's a great honour to be here among friends and politicians committed to NATO and to alliance generally. My s