On 1 and 2 June 2023 in Wismar, Germany, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Andris Pelšs attended the Council of the Baltic Sea States Ministerial meeting (CBSS) organised by the German Chairmanship.
At the meeting, the participants exchanged views on the changes in the region and on the CBSS agenda following Russia's war in Ukraine. The officials condemned the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine launched by Russia and supported by Belarus.
The participants reaffirmed the importance of the CBSS role in political dialogue to identify and address regional issues. Member States' representatives pointed out that, in addition to climate, environmental and social policies, there is also a need to focus on the new challenges in the region – security, resilience and energy. The partners expressed their readiness not only to continue providing assistance to Ukraine, but also to learn from experience in building resilience in war and called for exploring potential cooperation opportunities with Ukraine as an observer country of the CBSS.
Member States congratulated Germany on the successful conclusion of the CBSS Chairmanship and its contribution to the implementation of the priorities of the Chairmanship – the elimination of military pollution in the Baltic Sea, the offshore wind farm and youth issues. Participants visited the port of Wismar, where a presentation on Germany's clean-up of military pollution in the Baltic Sea took place.
During the working sessions, participants discussed energy independence and security issues and expressed support for the objectives of regional cooperation on offshore wind farms set out in the Berlin Declaration of the CBSS Foreign Ministers on 9 May this year. The State Secretary stressed that the region is not only concerned with increasing renewable energy production, but also with storage and supply issues.
At the same time, the participants exchanged views and experiences on resilience issues with representatives of the CBSS Youth Forum. Latvia called for strengthening national resilience in all areas of government and society in close cooperation with the non-governmental sector, including youth.
At the end of the meeting, a joint declaration was adopted.