It will be the first time Latvia has hosted the B9 format summit meeting, which was established relatively recently in 2015 and involves representatives of Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Since its accession to NATO earlier this year, it could also be argued that Finland forms part of the eastern flank, but it is not part of the B9 format. Nor is Turkey, NATO's easternmost member.
The Riga Summit will also be among the many events marking the 75th anniversary of NATO's founding and the 20th anniversary of Latvia's NATO membership.
"The objective of NATO's Eastern flank summits is to align national positions on matters of significance to the security and defence of the Alliance’s Eastern flank in advance of NATO's summits," according to a release from the office of the Latvian President.
In this case the B9 meeting will be a prequel to the meeting of all NATO member states taking place in Washington D.C. July 9-11, which is expected to make important decisions about the alliance's future direction.
