The 2015 Riga Security Seminar devoted to the problems of preserving and strengthening security in Europe in the context of the Ukrainian crisis took place on April 9–10. The seminar was organized by the Latvian Institute of International Affairs and the European Leadership Network, with the support of the Friederich Ebert Stiftung and the U.S. Nuclear Threat Initiative. Russia was represented by Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov and RIAC member, President of the All Russian Insurers’ Union and Member of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Igor Yurgens.
The seminar was attended by experts, diplomats, members of parliament, government officials and the heads of NGOs from Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as by EU and NATO representatives. Speeches were given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia (Edgars Rinkēvičs) and the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima (Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš).
The first meeting in this format took place in Riga in spring 2014. Russia was represented by Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov and RIAC member, President of the All Russian Insurers’ Union and Member of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Igor Yurgens. On the sidelines of the seminar, RIAC representatives held meetings with the management of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs on the development of partnership relations between the two organizations.
