Baltic Prime Ministers to mark Baltic Way 30th anniversary in Rīga

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The prime ministers of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will mark the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way together in Rīga on August 30th, Latvia's government said August 13.

Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš will host Jüri Ratas, Prime Minister of Estonia, and Saulius Skvernelis, Prime Minister of Lithuania. The officials will hold a meeting, as well as attend various celebration events marking the historic occasion.

The informal meeting in Rīga of the three Baltic prime ministers is also taking place in the framework of the Baltic Council of Ministers, as Latvia holds the rotating presidency this year.

The three prime ministers will visit the Saeima and meet with Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, as well as the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly. They will lay flowers at the Freedom Monument, view a photo exhibition about the Baltic Way 1989 and hold a working lunch and press conference.

The afternoon and early evening will see them participate in a "celebratory soiree" featuring a musical performance by the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica, as well as essay readings by Latvian writer Māris Bērziņš, Estonian poet Hasso Krull and Lithuanian poet Vladas Braziūnas.

The events of 23 August 1989 known as the Baltic Way were the decisive contribution of Baltic civic society in its non-violent effort to restore the independence of the three countries which were under continuous occupation since 1940.

You can read more about the background to the events surrounding the Baltic Way in this feature from earlier this year.

In another feature from 2014 we reported on one man's personal way of marking the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way, while in 2017 there was another novel method of commemorating the occasion.

Since 2009, August 23 is also officially designated as as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Communist and Nazi Regimes.

 

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