The President of the Republic Bulgaria's Rumen Radev arrived today in the Latvian capital Riga to participate in the summit of the B9 countries, BTA reported.
NATO member states Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland participate in the regional format for consultations and dialogue on security issues.
Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will also participate in the high-level meeting in the Latvian capital within the framework of the format, also known as the Bucharest Nine and NATO Eastern Flank Meeting. At the end of last month, he took part in the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which took place in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.
President Radev will make a statement to the media upon his arrival at the event. Opening statements at the opening of the meeting will be made by the host of the forum - President of Latvia Edgars Rinkevičs, his colleagues from Romania and Poland - Klaus Iohannis and Andrzej Duda, as well as Stoltenberg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also deliver a video address to the leaders.
The two sessions of the forum, which are closed to media representatives, will take place in the Ceremonial Hall of the Riga Castle on the banks of the Daugava River - the official residence of the President of Latvia.
According to the tradition of the informal summit in this format, the nine mentioned countries coordinate their positions on the NATO agenda before the high-level meeting of the alliance, which this year is scheduled for July in Washington.