Minister Joly to welcome Baltic counterparts to Canada

June 1, 2022 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that she will host the visit of Eva-Maria Liimets, Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Latvia’s Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from June 1 to 3, 2022.

From June 1 to 2, Minister Joly will host her ministerial counterparts in Québec, where they will discuss Russian President Putin’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, transatlantic collaboration on security and defence, defending against cyber and hybrid threats, as well as energy and food security. The ministers will also meet with Canadian Armed Forces troops who were deployed on Operation REASSURANCE, Canada’s support to NATO’s assurance and deterrence measures in Central and Eastern Europe, and through which Canada leads NATO’s multinational enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Latvia.

On June 3, the ministers will convene in Toronto, where they will meet with private-sector business leaders and participate in an armchair discussion hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University’s Democracy Forum. At the event, they will discuss democracy under threat from authoritarianism, President Putin’s ongoing military aggression in Ukraine and the Canada-Baltic relationship.

The ministers will also take the opportunity to celebrate more than 3 decades of restored Canada-Baltic diplomatic relations and reiterate their commitment to continue working together as friends and as strong NATO Allies.