Baltic Prime Ministers discuss coordinated actions in response to current crisis

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius met with Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovkis. This year, Lithuania holds the presidency over the Baltic Council of Ministers, which pays a special attention to regular trilateral meetings of the three Baltic Prime Ministers.
The Prime Ministers discussed collaborative actions in response to the current economic and financial crisis, the trilateral cooperation on energy and climate change, defence, national security and evaluation at the European Union level of crimes committed by totalitarian regimes.
    Prime Ministers agreed to continue pursuing the adoption of the Euro in the shortest possible time, which will contribute to sustainable economic development in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. In this context, the Prime Ministers also reasserted that further implementation of structural reforms are of fundamental importance in reaching this goal.
On energy cooperation, the Prime Ministers took note of the progress achieved while building an open and transparent common Baltic electricity market. The Prime Ministers agreed that an important measure to be taken to reach this goal was the removal of regulated tariffs for Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian consumers representing at least 35 percent of the total country electricity consumption by April 2010 at the latest.
    The Prime Ministers emphasized the significance of the introduction of new generation capacities in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia The Prime Ministers took note of the development of the Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant project and agreed to invite a strategic investor to join the project The Prime Ministers reconfirmed the status of Estonia, Latvia and Poland as project partners.
.    On cooperation in the area of defence and national security, the Prime Ministers noted successful cooperation and common efforts of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in the process of developing the new NATO Strategic Concept. According to the Prime Ministers, Adapting to the new security environment requires NATO to enhance its role in dealing with non-traditional threats and challenges, especially in the field of cyber and energy security.

Encl: the Chairman Conclusions of the Prime Ministers' Council of the Baltic Council of Ministers, held in Vilnius on 5-6 November 2009