The Dominion-Post reports of his just-completed visit to Wellington, where he floated the idea of Latvia bidding for a seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, its governing body.
In particular, Teikmanis asked New Zealand for its advice on such a big challenge. The news source states Latvia “has presented its candidature for the non-permanent seat of the Security Council for the term 2026-2027.”
"I think it is a great challenge for a small country to really be a part of global issues, a real part of ensuring global security, dealing with very difficult questions and urgent issues," the Ambassador said.
Latvia holds the presidency of the European Union Council, and Teikmanis compared the experience to New Zealand's role on the Security Council.
Being the presiding country on the EU Council had given Latvia confidence and knowledge in how to deal with different global issues, he said.
The Ambassador briefed his southern hemisphere hosts on Latvia’s current foreign and domestic security policy concerns.
Handling the Ukraine crisis has been a tough task, especially getting all the EU countries to agree and holding them together in approach, he related. He also cited the need for criminal prosecution of returned residents from foreign terrorist activities, as well as international exchange of personal data about them.
He also informed the New Zealand diplomatic counterparts of Latvia's struggle against Russia's massive propaganda campaign pressures and how the public media are trying to address the country's Russian-speaking population in their own language and mindset to reduce their overwhelming reliance on the constant cross-border broadcasts, most now completely skewed, from the neighboring media sphere.
Ambassador Teikmanis called for more mutual knowledge and awareness between the countries, and said he hoped trade and tourism could also be increased between New Zealand and Latvia.
