Photo: Matti Porre/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb, accompanied by his spouse Suzanne Innes-Stubb, paid a state visit to the Republic of Latvia from 16 to 17 September 2024.
The programme focused on further strengthening bilateral relations between Finland and Latvia, as well as discussing defence cooperation, security in the Baltic Sea region, and the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The visit began on Tuesday 16 September in Riga, where President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs received the presidential couple in front of Riga Castle, the presidential residence.
Next, the Presidents visited the Monument of Freedom, where President Stubb laid a wreath.
Common security environment
On Tuesday, the President also met Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa. The programme continued at the Latvian Parliament, the Saeima, where President Stubb met with the Speaker of Parliament Daiga Mieriņa.
“Finland and Latvia have a common security environment and we share the analysis of it. We have both invested in strengthening the security of our region and of Europe as a whole,” President Stubb said in his speech in Parliament.
“We continue to invest in our security and defence. Small countries are agile. Finland and Latvia are great examples of this. We can make a difference without compromising our values. We have a voice. Let’s use it wisely.”
In the afternoon, the President visited the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which documents the country’s history and life under the occupation regimes. The programme continued at the Riga Stradiņš University, where President Stubb participated in a debate on artificial intelligence with President Rinkēvičs and university students. After the discussion, the President met Finnish medical students, of whom there are more than 600 at the university.
In the evening, the presidential couple attended a state dinner hosted by President Rinkēvičs at Riga Castle.
Candles in memory of Finnish Jaegers
On Wednesday 17 September, the state visit continued in the town of Liepāja on Latvia’s western coast. President Stubb and Mrs Innes-Stubb met with Gunārs Ansiņš, Mayor of Liepāja, and visited the historical Liepāja Museum.
In the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the presidential couple lit candles in memory of Finnish Jaegers. On 13 February 1918, the Jaegers swore allegiance to the legal government of Finland, and the battalion’s flag was consecrated in the Cathedral at the same time.
In the afternoon, President Stubb visited the Latvian Armed Forces Navy. The state visit concluded with a reception hosted by President Stubb and Mrs Innes-Stubb at Liepāja’s Concert Hall Great Amber.
The state visit delegation comprised Mari-Leena Talvitie, Minister of Science and Culture; Jarmo Lindberg, Member of Parliament and Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Latvia and Veronika Honkasalo, Member of Parliament and Member of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.
In addition to the joint programme of the presidential couple, Mrs Suzanne Innes-Stubb, spouse of the President of the Republic of Finland, had a separate programme.
On Tuesday 16 September, Mrs Innes-Stubb visited the Children’s Clinical University Hospital and the Children’s Hospital Foundation, as well as the Riga Graduate School of Law, where she gave a lecture on corporate compliance and discussed with students. She also made a walking tour in the Old Town of Riga. On Wednesday 17 September, Mrs Innes-Stubb visited the House of Craftsmen in Liepāja and Madame Hoyer’s Guest House, a historic home museum.
