Kucinskis, fresh from a short holiday after just one month in his new job, said NATO was the "cornerstone" of Latvia's security and invited Stoltenberg to Riga - which the NATO chief has already visited several times in the last two years.
The Secretary General commended Latvia for its contributions to the NATO Response Force and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, as well as its strong political and practical support for Ukraine.
"You are taking office at a challenging time for European security," Stoltenberg warned.
"Latvia is strongly committed to NATO and NATO is strongly committed to Latvia... an attack on any ally will be met not just by national forces but by all allies," he pledged.
"We don't see an imminent threat against any Baltic members of NATO but we see a more assertive Russia with a significant military build-up in the region. That's also the reason why NATO is responding," said Stoltenberg.
He also highlighted Latvia’s participation in NATO exercises and its role in hosting the new NATO Force Integration Unit in Riga.
“This small headquarters will play a key role in planning and exercising. And to help ensure that our forces can deploy quickly, if needed,” said the Secretary General.
Stoltenberg also underlined NATO’s steps to strengthen its defense and deterrence posture with more multinational troops in the eastern part of the Alliance to ensure any attack by an aggressor is met with an immediate response. More details will be released in coming weeks, he promised.
“These decisions mean that there will be more NATO in Latvia than ever before,” said the Secretary General.
Kucinskis repeated the longstanding plan to reach defense spending of at least 2% of GDP by 2018 and said it was important for Latvia to have "a common position with Lithuania and Estonia."
"The unity of the Baltic states is important," he said.
