Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs outlined his country’s vision of NATO’s new Strategic Concept in his presentation to delegates of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to Riga on Saturday (29 May). 
“We meet in a year when Allies are contemplating a future vision of NATO for the next decade,” Aivis Ronis told the Assembly’s Political Committee, referring to the new text currently being discussed at NATO headquarters in Brussels. 
Ronis, who was one of the group of 12 experts commissioned by NATO to put forward proposals for the new text, said he agreed with the group’s chairman, the Honorable Madeleine Albright.  “Between now and 2020, the Alliance will face a new generation of dangers from sources that are geographically and technologically diverse,” he quoted the former US secretary of state as saying. 
He stressed the importance of maintaining the “adequate resources and political will” for the new Strategic Concept to be effective, especially in the light of the financial crisis and current budgetary hardships. 

Day 4 of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s (PA) Session – 31 May – will begin with a group photo session of the Standing Committee members. Meetings of the Standing Committee and the NATO–Russia parliamentary committee are also scheduled for this morning. The Standing Committee is composed of 28 heads of national delegations from NATO member states, the President and the Vice Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly, and the heads of five Parliamentary Assembly’s committees.

The meeting of the Standing Committee will be followed by the NATO–Russia Parliamentary Committee Meeting. After the meeting, members of this committee will meet with representatives of the mass media.

On Monday, 31 May, during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Riga Session, a flowerbed depicting the logo of the NATO PA Riga Session will be planted in Jēkaba Square. It will be a symbolic present to the inhabitants of Riga.

On 31 May 2010 at 12:30 the flowerbed will be solemnly dedicated by Mr. Gundars Daudze, Chairman of the Saeima, and Mr. John Tanner, President of the NATO PA. The orchestra of the National Armed Forces Headquarters will play during the ceremony, and the attendees will be able to enjoy the defile of the Honour Guard of the Staff Battalion of the National Armed Forces.

It is planned that the flowerbed will occupy 140 square metres and will contain about 6,000 plants. The creators of the concept point out that the flowerbed will be arranged in the form of a stylised compass, which in NATO’s logo symbolises the member states’ common road towards peace.

In the morning of 30 May, two committees of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) – the Defence and Security Committee and the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security – will convene their meetings.

Participants of the Defence and Security Committee will be addressed by Mr Imants Viesturs Lieģis, Latvian Minister for Defence, and Major General Juris Maklakovs, Commander of the National Armed Forces of Latvia. The Committee will discuss issues such as NATO’s new Security Concept, the security situation in Afghanistan, arms control, and NATO’s role in the High North.