President Karis’ meetings with Latvian and Finnish colleagues postponed

President Alar Karis. Photo: Tairo Lutter

President Alar Karis’ meetings with President of Latvia Egils Levits and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö were postponed due to Covid.

The Latvian head of state tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning. Levits and Niinistö attended a Holocaust remembrance event in Malmö, Sweden on Wednesday as a result of which the Finnish president also decided to postpone his meeting with Karis.

Karis and Levits talked on the phone on Thursday morning, with the Estonian president wishing his colleague a speedy recovery and saying he hopes to meet soon. “It is sad that the coronavirus is in charge of our lives more than we are ourselves. As a scientist, I have no other advice than to get vaccinated if you do not want life to grind to a halt and for those who opt out to get to dictate measures,” President Karis said.

Karis met with Saeima Speaker Inara Murniece on Thursday morning to discuss closer mutual relations, regional cooperation, as well as cooperation in the EU and other international organizations. “Latvia is a good and important partner for Estonia and we have longstanding and strong cooperation,” the president said.

Karis and Murniece also discussed the second future cooperation report between Estonia and Latvia.

Talking about regional security, Karis and Murniece discussed the hybrid crisis Belarus has been facilitating on the EU border. “Using migrants as political leverage is unacceptable. The EU needs to react now,” Alar Karis stressed.