On 20-21 June 2022, Riga hosted the seventh Summit of the 3SI and its fourth Business Forum. During its 3SI Presidency, Latvia highlighted the Initiative’s potential to attract additional investments for the development of infrastructure connectivity in the region, thus contributing to EU-level cohesion, competitiveness of the region and the strengthening of the transatlantic link.
As part of the summit, 3SI Heads of State, the partners of the Initiative (the U.S., Germany and the European Commission), and guests of the Riga summit also had closed meetings. The Japanese and British foreign ministers attended the 3SI Summit as guests. As a special guest to the summit, the President of Ukraine delivered a speech in a remote format.
Discussions between high-level national and international institutions and members of the business community took place over two days. The Forum discussed the development of infrastructure connectivity in the 3SI region, the importance of attracting investments to the energy, transport and digital sectors, as well as the development of new models of cooperation.
In the light of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine and the current geopolitical situation, internationally recognised sectoral experts discussed the region’s economic development trends, the investment environment, diversification of energy supply routes and sources, innovative solutions for the transformation of mobility and logistics, as well as the role of digitalisation in strengthening the region’s resilience and promoting sustainable development.
The 3SI is a strategically important cooperation platform designed to enhance connectivity of the region’s transport, energy and digitalisation infrastructure. Participants of the Riga 3SI Summit and Business Forum included leaders of the 3SI participating countries, as well as the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, and the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Scott Nathan.
The 3SI Business Forum brought together around 700 participants in person from 37 countries representing the investment and private sector of 3SI and other countries, while 103 participants from 18 countries participated remotely. The largest number of visitors was from Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, the U.S., Bulgaria, the UK, and Romania.
The Riga Summit and Business Forum took place in a very complex geopolitical environment and provided a platform for meaningful discussions on future cooperation processes at the regional, EU and transatlantic level.