Baltic presidents to visit US President on April 3

pulse

February 22, 2018 1:26 PM

The presidents of fellow NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- Kersti Kaljulaid, Raimonds Vejonis and Dalia Grybauskaite -- last met with Trump in Warsaw last year.

US President Donald Trump will welcome his counterparts from the three Baltic states in Washington on April 3 to discuss security and economic ties, the Estonian presidency said Thursday.

"Our security cooperation is very good, and all four countries are contributing at least two percent of GDP to national defence in 2018," Estonian presidential advisor Lauri Kuusing said, according to Baltic news agency BNS.

The Baltic trio are among only eight NATO allies expected this year to meet the defence spending benchmark repeatedly insisted upon by Trump.

The US visit can be seen as a sign of how the Baltic states are now firmly anchored in the West, 100 years after Estonia and Lithuania regained independence after World War I. Latvia will mark its centenary in 2020.

"This meeting on the 100th anniversary of our independence once again reaffirms the special bond and good cooperation between the Baltic countries and the United States," Kuusing said.

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