"The arrangement will enable both the U.S. and Latvia to acquire the industrial resources they need to quickly meet defense requirements, resolve unanticipated disruptions that challenge defense capabilities, and promote supply chain resiliency," the DOD said.
The SOSA was signed by U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Michael Vaccaro and Under Secretary of State for Logistics Latvian Ministry of Defense Mārtiņš Paškēvičs in Rīga.
“DOD is honored to enter into the SOSA with the Latvian MOD,” said Vaccaro. “The SOSA is a testament to the strength of U.S.-Latvian cooperation that our two countries began over a hundred years ago and we are proud to continue today. The arrangement is a symbol both to each other and to the world that the U.S. and Latvia will support one another’s defense industrial needs when possible, in turn bolstering our assurances of supply during peacetime, emergency, and armed conflict.”
Through the SOSA, the U.S. and Latvia commit intent to support one another’s priority delivery requests for procurement of critical defense resources. The U.S. will provide Latvia some assurances under the U.S. Defense Priorities and Allocations System. Latvia will in turn establish a government-industry Code of Conduct with its industrial base, where Latvian firms will voluntarily agree to make every reasonable effort to provide U.S. priority support.
Latvia is the U.S.’s tenth SOSA partner. Other SOSA partners include Australia, Canada, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
