On May 9, the Director of the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Latvia, Stefan Eriksson, participated in a discussion jointly organised by the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, titled “The Role of Belarus in the Political and Security Architecture of Europe”.
The event was opened by Director of LIIA Dr. Kārlis Bukovskis and also featured speeches by Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Artjoms Uršuļskis and leader of the Belarusian democratic movement Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Stefan Eriksson began his speech by greeting S. Tsikhanouskaya with a warm greeting in the Belarusian language and continued with the following remarks:
It’s important to learn and tell more about Belarus, and that is the aim of this project – share knowledge and remind about what is happening in Belarus. Amidst the current global turbulence, Belarus might at times be forgotten, however, the Nordic and Baltic partners hold a stance that there is no sustainable solution for the security in Europe without a solution to the Belorussian problem. Therefore, this project by the Institute of International Affairs and similar activities are very important.
He went on to emphasise the important work carried out by the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania in raising awareness on Belarus-related issues and highlighted several projects implemented by the Latvian office. These include support for LSM+, the public media outlet in minority languages, for the production of content in Ukrainian and Belarusian. He also noted the support for the Belarusian exile theatre group “Volnya Kupalautsy” currently based in Poland, enabling their participation in a Theatre festival in Daugavpils on June 3.
In her address to participants and political experts from various countries, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya expressed her deep gratitude to Latvia for its support to the Belarusian democratic forces and emphasised the importance of unwavering support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression. She stressed that the defence of Ukraine’s sovereign territory is essential for the security of the entire region – including Belarus’s own struggle for a democratic future.
The second part of the event featured a panel discussion moderated by Elizabete Elīna Vizgunova-Vikmane, guest lecturer at Riga Stradiņš University. The panel included four researchers: Beāte Livdanska (Latvia), Gunta Pastore (Latvia), Tatsiana Chulitskaya (Lithuania), and Kamil Kłysiński (Poland).
Additional information on the project of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs: https://belarusnetwork.org/
This public discussion was financially supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Latvia under the “Prosperous Future” programme. Since 2006, this programme has supported cooperation between Nordic organisations and non-governmental organisations and independent partners across the Baltic Sea region – particularly those connected to Ukraine and Belarus – with the goal of fostering a greener, more democratic and sustainable region.
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
