Baltic: Leaders stress security of eastern border

Leaders of the three Baltic States took part in the first Eastern Flank Summit, which was organised by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, LETA reported. The summit was also attended by leaders from Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Sweden as well as EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal noted that Europe’s eastern…

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Baltic: Baltics join call to use Russian assets to help Ukraine

The three Baltic States have joined Finland, Ireland, Poland, and Sweden in urging the EU to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, LETA reports. The seven member states sent a joint letter to European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa to express support for the EC’s proposal…

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Estonia: IKEA Group gets go-ahead to buy Södra’s forests

Swedish-owned IKEA Group has received permission from the Estonian Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) to acquire 18,000 hectares of forest from Swedish-owned Södra Forest Estonia, ERR reports. Under the deal, IKEA Group’s subsidiary, Ingka Investments, will buy Södra’s forests in Estonia and Latvia for EUR 720mn. Latvia’s Competition Council has received notification of the deal. Södra owns…

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Baltic: Swedbank still most loved Baltic brand in 2025

The most loved brand in the Baltic States is the Swedish banking group, Swedbank, according to the Baltic Brand Forum 2025 survey, The Baltic Times reports. Lithuanian supermarket chain Maxima ranked second, followed by Estonia’s state-owned logistics group, Omniva, and German supermarket chain Lidl. The top four ranking remained unchanged from 2024. US technology company…

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Estonia: Telecom providers report drop in revenues in 2024

The combined revenues of Estonia’s three largest telecommunications service providers dropped to around EUR 671mn in 2024, ERR reports. Estonia’s leading telecommunications company, Swedish-owned Telia, reported an annual turnover of EUR 359.7mn, which was down 0.4% from 2023. Finnish-owned Elisa’s turnover fell by 1.2% to EUR 223mn in 2024. Swedish-owned TELE2’s turnover amounted to an…

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Latvia: LIAA helped attract EUR 655mn of foreign investments in 2024

The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) helped attract 45 foreign investment projects, which will create an estimated 2,023 new jobs, in 2024, LSM reports. The total value of the projects is EUR 655.4mn, which is up 6% from 2023. The biggest investments were in high-value-added manufacturing, ICT, energy, and aviation. LIAA’s target is…

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