On the occasion of the official visit to Italy, the president and the Latvian delegation were welcomed by the commander of the College, General Olivier Rittimann, and by the deputy commander and dean Dr. Stephen Mariano.
The audience present and the spectators connected on the College's social channels had the honor of listening to the speech by President Egils Levits on the strategic importance of NATO for the Baltic republic; a fundamental Alliance for "the safeguarding of freedom, the common heritage and civilization of the member peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual freedom and the rule of law".
The Republic of Latvia is one of the four host nationsEnhanced Forward Presence, the NATO multinational combat groups, set up during the Warsaw summit in 2016, an adaptation mission to the new security situation on the eastern flank, due to greater assertiveness shown by the Russian Federation. President Levits then addressed the issue of collective defense and how it clearly demonstrates NATO's determination to defend all members of the Atlantic Alliance, while with regard to neighboring Russia he highlighted how desirable for his nation to be able in the future to recreate a relationship with a Russia "free, democratic and predictable, based on mutual respect".
After providing an internal overview of Latvia and the international situation, he Egils Levits concluded his speech by looking at the work of NATO 2030, considering the need to place greater emphasis on resilience to non-military threats and remembering how for allies "this is a competition between democracy and authoritarianism".
