The State of the State Department & Baltic Security [04/03/23]

Join the Boston Public Library and WorldBoston for their annual State of the State Department program, this year featuring the Ambassadors of the Baltic States.

With a total population of just over 6 million, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania nevertheless hold a key position on the border of Russia and the frontline of NATO and the EU. Challenges include not only potential expansion of conventional war beyond Ukraine, but also threats to shipping, commerce, cyber, and governance of states including significant Russian-speaking populations. At the same time, neighbors Finland and Sweden may join their strengths (and additional security needs) with NATO in the not-distant future.

One year into the third massive conflict in Europe in just over a century, how do the Baltic states, and one of their main defense partners, the U.S., view the overall security of this vital region?

Join us for WorldBoston’s annual State of the State Department special event, an opportunity to consider the U.S. State Department and American diplomacy within the context of U.S. national interests. This year’s program will focus on “The State of the State Department & Baltic Security.”

This program will start promptly at 6 PM in-person in the Rabb Lecture Hall of the Boylston Street Building of the Central Library in Copley Square and over Zoom webinar. For in-person attendees, following the main program there will be a reception with refreshments from 7 to 7:30 PM.

To attend in-person, please register on this Eventbrite page.

To attend online, please register on this Zoom webinar page.

For this discussion, we honored to host the ambassadors of the three Baltic states: Audra Plepytė, Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States and Mexico; Kristjan Prikk, Ambassador of Estonia to the United States; and Māris Selga, Ambassador of Latvia to the United States. The Ambassadors will be joined in conversation by Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Harvard University JFK Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs and former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs.

Ambassador Audra Plepytė assumed the duties of Ambassador of Lithuania to the U.S. in May 2021. Prior to her appointment, she was Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations from 2017 to 2021. Ambassador Plepytė served as Director of the European Union Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2017. She was Lithuania’s Ambassador to Spain and the World Tourism Organization between 2010 and 2014, and the Director of the Ministry’s Personnel Department from 2009 to 2010.

Kristjan Prikk is the Estonian Ambassador to the United States since May 2021. Before assuming his current duties, Prikk served as the Permanent Secretary of the Estonian Ministry of Defense. Prior to becoming the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Prikk worked as Undersecretary for Defense Policy in the Ministry of Defense from July 2017 to August 2018. From 2015 to 2017 Mr. Prikk was the Director of National Security and the Defense Coordination Unit of the Estonian Government Office.

Māris Selga is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to the United States of America since September 16, 2019 and non-resident Acting Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the United Mexican States. Prior to his current post, he was Ambassador to People’s Republic of China.

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, a foreign policy expert and former diplomat specializing in national security affairs, is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs and Vice Chair of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy & Security. She brings over 30 years of government and international experience across senior levels of business, diplomacy, and the defense sector. She was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Thomson Reuters, and during this time, held the Distinguished National Security Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.

To learn more about the presenters, as well as to get more information about this program, please visit the WorldBoston event webpage.

This program is presented in partnership by the Boston Public Library, WorldBoston, the Lowell Institute, and the GBH Forum Network.

About the BPL's COVID-19 health and safety protocols:

Program attendees are recommended to wear masks covering their noses and mouths.
Read the BPL's latest COVID-19 guidelines for visiting the library.
Program speakers will remove their masks during the program.

The State of the State Department & Baltic Security

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