This past week, Secretary Perry visited the Baltic region with stops in Lithuania and Latvia.
October 11, 2019
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WASINGTON, D.C. – This past week, Secretary Perry visited the Baltic region with stops in Lithuania and Latvia to engage with both government officials and private sector stakeholders on regional energy security issues.
Vilnius, Lithuania
During his visit to Vilnius, the Secretary joined 23 European counterparts for the second meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC). This was a continuation of the Inaugural meeting hosted by Secretary Perry on the sidelines of CERA week in Houston, Texas. Last year, Secretary Perry started the P-TEC initiative as a forum to elevate engagement with allies in the region on energy security issues. He is excited about the progress made in critical energy infrastructure projects ranging from LNG market development to the construction of gas interconnections.
Delivered keynote address, watch HERE.
During his visit to Vilnius, he met with Lithuanian government officials including President Gitanas Nausėda seda, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius and Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaičiūnas. Secretary Perry also convened the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Baltic High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Energy, which included Minister Zygimantas Vaičiūnas of Lithuania, Minister Taavi Aas of Estonia, and Minister Ralfs Nemiro of Latvia. During these engagements, Secretary Perry reiterated U.S. support for the Baltic region and our priority in helping Europe minimize dependence upon a single energy supplier.
He also engaged with Ukraine’s Minister of Energy, Oleksiy Orzhel and Poland’s Under Secretary of State, Tomasz Dąbrowski. In the trilateral meeting, the United States reaffirmed our commitment to the recently signed U.S.-Poland-Ukraine Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) in Poland on August 31, and to regional energy security through enhanced integration and interconnection between Poland and Ukraine. Through such cooperation, Poland and Ukraine can serve as an energy hub, diversifying resources throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
He concluded his visit with a multilateral meeting with Romania’s Special Envoy for Energy Security, Cristian Bădescu, Moldova’s State Secretary, Alexandru Sonic, and Ukraine’s Minister of Energy Oleksiy Orzhel. The Secretary encouraged continued cooperation among regional states and affirmed the U.S.’ commitment for expanded engagement between Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, emphasizing the importance of their natural gas supply options, particularly in advance of the winter heating season.
Riga, Latvia
Following his visit to Lithuania, the Secretary headed to Latvia to deliver the keynote speech to the EuroGas Central and Eastern Europe Conference. While in Latvia, he met with Latvian officials including President Egils Levits, Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karips, Latvia Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Artis Pabriks and Latvian Minister of Economics Ralfs Nemiro.
During these meetings, Secretary Perry underscored DOE’s commitment to enhancing European energy security, particularly under the framework of the Partnership for Trans-Atlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC) as well as U.S. support for closer integration of the countries of Central and Southeast Europe to increase competitiveness and bolster economic resilience.
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