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On 16 October 2025, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže, during her working visit to Lithuania, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys and discussed bilateral cooperation, regional security and defence, further support for Ukraine, and the containment of Russia, including the need to approve the 19th sanctions package as soon as possible and to restrict the “shadow fleet”. Ministers also discussed work on the next EU multiannual budget, including in relation to further strengthening the EU/NATO external border, as well as the need to enhance border control and the fight against illegal migration.
The Ministers attended the annual Balts’ Award ceremony organised by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Lithuania. The Balts’ Award 2025 was awarded to Lithuanian poet and translator of Latvian poetry Vladas Braziūnas for strengthening literary and cultural ties between Latvia and Lithuania. He has translated the works of Amanda Aizpuriete, Māris Čaklais, Guntars Godiņš, Ojārs Mednis, Jānis Rokpelnis, Knuts Skujenieks, Inese Zandere, and other prominent Latvian poets into Lithuanian. Nine candidates were nominated for the award this year. The Balts’ Award has been presented since 2018. This is a special year for Baltic friendship and Latvian-Lithuanian relations – as the Baltic Unity Day is being officially celebrated for the 25th time.
Ministers praised the successful coordination in multilateral formats – NB8, EU, and NATO. K. Budrys congratulates Latvia on election to UN Security Council and anticipates excellent mutual collaboration during Latvia’s term on the Council.
Baiba Braže invited Kęstutis Budrys to the 31st Baltic Council Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Latvia on 14 November.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braže:
“Lithuania is the neighbour, good friend and close ally of Latvia. It remains a priority for both our countries to provide comprehensive support to Ukraine and to strengthen the transatlantic partnership.
Russia is actively seeking vulnerabilities and testing our readiness to respond. Russia will continue to deliberately target critical civilian and logistics infrastructure. Its goal remains unchanged – to divide European unity and reduce support for Ukraine. We therefore highly value our close cooperation in strengthening regional security and defence, countering Russia’s unconventional attacks, protecting critical infrastructure and airspace, and restricting Russia’s “shadow fleet”. In the area of sanctions, cooperation with allies, in particular the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, must continue.
We are pleased with NATO’s mission to protect and strengthen Baltic airspace, Eastern Sentry, which is a strong signal of NATO’s unity and determination to defend its territory.”
Lithuania is Latvia’s largest trading partner and third largest investor. Both countries wish to develop cooperation, particularly in ICT, the defence industry and energy. The Ministers expressed their satisfaction with the joint achievements of Latvia and Lithuania at the Baltic Pavilion exhibition at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
Following the bilateral meeting, Baiba Braže met with the President of the European People’s Party Group, Manfred Weber, and spoke at a discussion on challenges to European security.