Estonia’s new president, Ülle Madise, made her first working visits in office to neighbouring Latvia and Finland, BNS reported. In her meetings with the Latvian and Finnish presidents, she discussed defence and regional security, energy and transport connections, protection of critical infrastructure, support for Ukraine, Nordic-Baltic cooperation, and transatlantic relations. At a joint press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics in Riga, Madise highlighted the importance of the historically close societal relations between Estonians and Latvians. She stressed the importance of protecting the Estonian and Latvian national languages, defending international law and the rules-based order, and completing the Rail Baltica railway project. On his part, Rinkevics noted that Madise knew Latvia very well and arrived in Riga barely 24 hours after taking office, which he said was a “highly significant gesture,” ERR reported. Speaking at a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Helsinki, Madise said that there was something in the bond between Estonia and Finland that both nations understand in the same way, ERR reported. Stubb stated that Finns and Estonians were “like brothers and sisters.”
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