Baltic and French foreign ministers meet in Rīga

Ahead of his arrival in Latvia, France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian mentioned that he intended to "bring up his recent conversations with his Russian counterpart and with French and Russian defense ministers on November 12 in Paris, and the position expressed by France on that occasion," according to the official website of the French diplomatic service.

"A few months ahead of the Madrid summit, the ministers will also address the updating of the Alliance’s Strategic Concept. The Minister will underscore France’s priorities in this regard in connection with shifts in NATO’s deterrence and defense posture, as well as the need to undertake a substantive effort with Russia on arms control parameters. He will also stress the importance for the Atlantic Alliance to strengthen European defense, complementarity between with NATO and EU initiatives, and cooperation between the two organizations," France Diplomacy said.

According to a tweet from the French embassy in Rīga, Le Drian updated his Baltic counterparts on the security situation in Mali and the Sahel region of Africa. 

"During the meeting, [Latvian Foreign Minister] Edgars Rinkēvičs expressed Latvia’s support for the French Presidency of the Council of the EU coming up in the first half of 2022. We support the French Presidency in its efforts to achieve tangible results concerning the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, the Latvian Foreign Minister noted," according to a release from the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Latvia is taking advantage of having the ministers in town by organizing numerous bilateral and Baltic-format meetings on the sidelines of the main ministerial get-together.