Mieriņa: A Strong and United NATO Is More Important Now Than Ever

Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Latvian Saeima, addressed the NATO Parliamentary Summit in Istanbul on Monday, June 29, stressing that the alliance’s strength and unity are critically important in the current geopolitical climate. She noted that NATO must continue enhancing its air defense and especially counter-drone capabilities, but stressed the need for faster action and decisive decisions.

Mieriņa invited allies to deploy air defense assets and aircraft at the Lielvārde Air Base under the Eastern Guard mission. She also emphasized that Ukraine’s battlefield experience should be leveraged by integrating the most successful solutions both into individual nations’ defense industries and into NATO’s overall capability planning.

“The ‘peace through strength’ approach is the most effective way to end this horrific war with a just and lasting peace,” Mieriņa said, adding that supporting Ukraine today pushes a potential aggressor further away from provocations tomorrow.

On the sidelines of the summit, Mieriņa met with Turkish Grand National Assembly Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş to discuss closer economic and security cooperation. Both sides noted the strong inter-parliamentary dialogue, and Mieriņa thanked Turkey for its contribution to strengthening NATO’s Eastern flank. She also acknowledged Turkey’s expertise in drone technology.

During a meeting with Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies President Claude Wiseler, the focus was on cooperation in space technologies. Latvian companies offer high-quality telecommunications and digital infrastructure solutions that are also important for Luxembourg’s operators.

As part of her visit, Mieriņa is scheduled to tour defense technology company Baykar Technologies, which develops some of the world’s most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle systems.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is holding its third parliamentary summit in Istanbul on June 28-29, gathering parliamentary leaders from across the alliance. This year’s event highlights the parliamentary dimension of NATO and the views of allied parliaments on the alliance’s key priorities during a period that is particularly significant for both North America and Europe.