The 42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly and the 29th Baltic Council to be held in Tallinn

On 23 and 24 November, the representatives and the Speakers of the Baltic parliaments, as well as the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Baltic States will come together in Tallinn for the 42nd session of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council.

On Thursday, 23 November, with a ceremony at the Concert Hall of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, the Baltic Assembly prizes will be presented. This year, the Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature was awarded to Lithuanian translator and poet Antanas A. Jonynas for his collection of sonnets “Naujieji sonetai”. The Prize in the Arts was awarded to Estonian artist Peeter Laurits for his outstanding and diverse artistic work and the project ‘Biotoopia’. The Prize The Prize in Science was awarded to Latvian musicologist Arnolds Laimonis Klotiņš for his monographs on music and creative life in post-war Stalinist Latvia and the Latvian music life in exile in Europe during the same period. During the ceremony, the winner of the Baltic Innovation Prize will also be awarded. This year, the nominated companies were GScan OÜ, UAB Vilimed and SIA InPass.

On Friday, 24 November, the meeting of the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly and the speakers of the national parliaments of the Baltic States will take place in the Parliament of Estonia. After that, the 42nd Session of the Baltic Assembly will be held. At the opening of the Session, the speakers of the parliaments will deliver speeches. The Session will be chaired by the President of the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov and Vice-Presidents Andrius Kupčinskas and Jānis Vucāns.

The Baltic Council, the cooperation assembly of the Governments and the parliaments of the Baltic States will also meet on Friday. The 29th Baltic Council will be chaired by the Chairman of the Co-operation Council of the Baltic Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna and President of the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov. Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš will also deliver speeches. After discussions, the Head of the Estonian delegation to the Baltic Assembly and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will sign the Joint Statement of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers.

The 42nd session will continue in the afternoon, and the impacts of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine on the economy as well as effective civil defence will be discussed. At the end of the session, the new President of the Baltic Assembly will be elected, and the Resolution and the Final Documents will be signed. After the end of the Session, Estonia will hand over the presidency of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers to Lithuania.