Lithuania’s new government is not expected to make any major changes in foreign policy, LRT reports. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius named regional security, Baltic cooperation, and strengthening ties with the US as his priorities, BNS and The Baltic Times reported. The government calls for a more united Europe, while maintaining strategic partnerships with Germany, Poland,…
At their summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara, NATO leaders decided to turn the alliance’s rotating Baltic Air Policing mission into an air defence mission, ERR reported. The change will allow NATO fighter aircraft to respond more rapidly to threats in Baltic airspace. NATO’s air operations centre in Uedem, Germany, will have authority to decide…
Latvia’s foreign trade turnover totalled EUR 15.01bn at current prices in the first four months of 2026, which was up EUR 589.1mn (4.1%) from the same period of 2025, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) provisional data, LSM reported. The total value of goods exports amounted to EUR 6.94bn (up 2.2%) and imports to…
Estonia’s exports of services totalled nearly EUR 3.3bn in the first quarter of 2026, which was up 4% from the same period of 2025, according to data from Statistics Estonia and the Bank of Estonia. Imports of services totalled around EUR 2.5bn, which was unchanged over a year. Estonia’s trade balance in services showed a…
NATO plans to assign additional forces to defend the Baltic States, Reuters reports. Military sources revealed that Germany and the Netherlands had agreed to assign the 1 German-Netherlands Corps (1GNC), based in the German city of Münster, to the defence of Estonia and Latvia. The move would facilitate the rapid deployment of forces into the…
Tourist accommodation establishments in Latvia had a total of 447,100 guests in the first quarter of 2026, which was down 3.0% from 460,800 in the same period of 2025, according to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. The number of foreign guests amounted to 246,600, which was 7.2% fewer than a year earlier. The…
The three Baltic States as well as Poland and Romania have expressed readiness to host more US troops, Politico reports. Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that he would withdraw 5,000 or more US military personnel from Germany. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced that Lithuania was prepared to host as many allied troops as it…
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda were by far the most visible Baltic political leaders in Western media in 2025, according to a survey by Estonia’s Government Office, The Baltic Sentinel reports. The survey looked at mentions of Baltic presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and defence ministers in US, British, German,…
Over 500 experts and decision-makers from across the Baltic Sea region will attend the 17th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on 11-13 May 2026, BNS reports. The central theme of this year’s forum is resilience. The conference participants will discuss regional security and…
