Mr President of the Baltic Assembly,
Excellencies Speakers of Parliaments, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Members and Guests of the Baltic Assembly,
Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to welcome all the representatives from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the 28th Session of the Baltic Assembly. I hope that open discussions and diversity of opinion that have always been an inseparable part of the Baltic Assembly this time and again will facilitate our communication and work discussing both the present and the future of our states.
We have been continuing the tradition of the Baltic Assembly for 20 years now. The objectives of historic sovereignty identified under the Soviet occupation were achieved a long time ago. As a result, we can sometimes be confronted with the question of whether this parliamentary forum of the Baltic States is still needed. Can it make a practical influence on our life? Or perhaps the Baltic Assembly has already accomplished its historical mission? Otherwise, should it retain its current form or should it undergo a reform and look for a new scope of activity that is more closely related to the challenges of today?
I am among those who have an unambiguous and a clear view on this: our Assembly, as an excellent example of historical cooperation among the Baltic States, can and must continue to function. It should undergo quality renewal, react to current realities of life, respond to newly emerging problems, and in this way gain a new value.
Unfortunately, some problems, which emerged from the very beginning of its activity, have not been solved so far. First of all, I have in mind the lack of the unity among the Baltic States. Often, the competition in respect to some minor details overshadows the entire potential of cooperation. Whereas, in general the Baltic States have the same interests in all strategic issues of international policy and economy. I want to underline that, basically, we have the same interests in all issues. Consequently, the benefit or progress of one country becomes of benefit to the entire region, while the problems of one state directly affect the quality of life or security of others.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue tangible and dynamic activities of closer integration. The Assembly should become the initiator of joint projects of the Baltic States, which generates modern ideas of cooperation.
I believe that the voice of the Baltic Assembly should become significant when addressing strategic issues and its decisions should not be of symbolic and recommendatory character only, they should be binding too. I welcome the efforts for strengthening the dialogue among the Parliaments of the Baltic States and looking for new forms of interaction between the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers. In turn, this would enable stronger parliamentary control of the cooperation among the Baltic States.
In order to avoid a standstill, the Baltic Assembly should set strategic objectives, formulate medium-term projects, define the criteria for efficient activities, and consistently follow its goals. This way the Assembly would gain more weight in its cooperation and in taking decisions relevant to all three Baltic States.
In the international arena, I see the Baltic Assembly as a platform that inert alia could coordinate mutual actions of our states in the EU institutions and propose a common Baltic vision on various issues essential for the development of the entire EU. In general, the Baltic Assembly can give a number of stimuli in forming the common foreign policy of our states on the basis, for instance, of the experience of close and historically proven cooperation among the Nordic Countries. This approach would promote the development of the Baltic States as an integral community which sees security, economic or political problems of one state as common problems of all the Baltic States.
For this purpose the Baltic Assembly should further strengthen its ties not only with the Nordic Council but also with respective parliamentary fora of the Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development and the Benelux countries in order to learn from and share the experience of joint activities and also in order to ensure a more efficient network of parliamentary relations between the EU and partner countries in the Eastern neighbourhood.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have touched upon only several aspects of the activities of the Baltic Assembly. Certainly, there are many more. Therefore, I invite you to discuss openly and work in solidarity making use of as much potential as possible. We are the nations that have experienced the same historical fate; we are neighbours actually not only in the geographical sense. Let us keep this in mind when seeking strategic objectives and engaging in everyday activities.
I hope this will come true. I welcome you once again and wish success to the 28th Session of the Baltic Assembly.
