Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, President of Latvia

This coming November, Latvia will host the 2006 NATO Summit in its capital city of Riga. This will be a Summit about the rejuvenation and the transformation of NATO, which remains the most powerful and effective military alliance in the world.

The fact that my own country of Latvia, as a new NATO member, will be hosting the summit is of tremendous symbolic importance. It is a fitting recognition of the immense progress that Latvia and other former captive nations have made in the past 15 years, and of their successful transformation into viable European democracies.

From its very inception, NATO has been more than just a military alliance. That is why more and more nations are expressing their desire to join it. We support the strivings for freedom, democracy and the rule of law of countries struggling with the after-effects of imposed totalitarianism. We firmly believe that an open door policy must be maintained for the admittance of future member states.

We need a strong and vibrant alliance, able to face up effectively to the challenges of our age. The nature of threats may change, but the danger they pose does not. I am confident that we will take the far-reaching decisions required to make the Riga Summit a success.

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga,
President of Latvia