The meeting of the Presidents of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia was held in line with the ongoing practice of regular consultations between them to discuss main foreign policy issues, i.e. integration into the European and Transatlantic structures, trilateral and regional cooperation, as well as relations with neighboring countries.

The President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus, the President of Estonia Lennart Meri and the President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga agreed that Baltic solidarity is and shall continue to be an essential principle on which efforts to strengthen the international posture of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are based.

They noted that their countries' common goals are membership in both the EU and NATO and agreed that, while it is important that each applicant country is assessed according to its own merits, it is also necessary to undertake both individual and coordinated efforts to achieve those goals. The Presidents stressed the importance of the ongoing successful trilateral co-operation as a significant contribution to their countries' integration into European and Transatlantic structures.

The Presidents of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia expressed their conviction that the next round of NATO enlargement should include their countries.

While discussing the EU enlargement, the Presidents welcomed the Helsinki EU Council Conclusions. The Presidents agreed that opening of the accession negotiations with Latvia and Lithuania gave a new impetus for the trilateral cooperation. The importance of a deepened cooperation on issues pertinent to European integration with a particular emphasis on the EU accession negotiations was underlined.

They also expressed their contentment with the successful development of cooperation between Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and the United States in the spirit of the US-Baltic Partnership Charter signed by the four Presidents in 1998 which expresses a common vision of the Partners of a new, increasingly integrated Europe, and strongly supports the membership of the Baltic states in the European and Transatlantic institutions.

The three Heads of State took positive note of the provisions of the resolution of the Baltic Prime Ministers' meeting in Tallinn on February 18, 2000. They also welcomed the recently signed agreements on education and crime prevention by their respective ministers.

The Presidents discussed the necessary development of a Common Baltic Energy Market as well as the need to build electricity and gas transmission links to Poland and Finland. They agreed that border crossing procedures between their three countries have to be further streamlined to increase their attractiveness both to investors and tourists.

The Presidents of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia welcomed the continued development of the Council of Baltic Sea States, in particular its increased emphasis on economic fields as well as on people-to-people contacts. They also discussed their cooperation with Russia and welcomed the increasing involvement by the European Union as a body and of its member states individually in projects related to the social and economic development of western regions of the Russian Federation.

The three heads of state expressed the hope that Mr.Vladimir Putin as the newly elected President of the Russian Federation will join them in promoting good neighborly relations with Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.



Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 30, 2000

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