US VP Pledges Support for Latvia

The US vice president, Joe Biden pledged US support for Latvia’s energy security and gas market liberalisation at a meeting with the country’s prime minister, Maris Kucinskis, in Riga August 23.

“We discussed many domestic issues… I have to admit that the US has been following events in our region very closely… US is highly interested in ensuring Latvia’s energy security and gas market liberalisation, so that we were not just a consumer country, but could move on, using our own resources,”  Latvian media reported Kucinskis saying.

The topic of gas market liberalisation was raised by the US vice president, he emphasised. “In the worst case scenario Latvia can count on US expertise and support in ensuring energy security. The promise was to help Latvia achieve the situation where we are completely sure of our energy independence,” he said.

In his address to all at the National Library of Latvia, Joe Biden noted that “not long ago, this region (Baltics) was known as the “energy island,” cut off from the rest of Europe… But recently, you’ve made significant progress in diversifying your energy sector to ensure you are no longer dependent on any one nation for your energy. Here in Latvia, you’ve taken important steps to liberalise your gas sector, which will allow the formation of a fully integrated regional market in the Baltics. And with the inauguration of Lithuania’s liquefied natural gas terminal – appropriately named “Independence” – you took a huge leap forward to end the Baltic region’s energy reliance on Russia,” Biden said.  

Hoegh LNG's Independence, moored at Klaipeda (Credit: Klaipeda Nafta)

Calling the progress “impressive”, he noted that there’s work still to be done. “It’s important you follow through on your efforts to diversify energy supplies and increase connections to Europe so that no country can use energy to undermine your sovereignty…The US and North America – Mexico, the US and Canada – will be the energy epicentre for the 21st century – thanks in part to our abundance of natural gas.  We’ve moved from anticipating massive imports of liquefied natural gas to becoming the world’s fastest-growing exporter. For the first time, gas from the US is being used here in Europe. And every country in Europe can now buy that American resource,” the vice president underscored.

In his words, that’s critical, because Europe needs diverse sources of gas – not new pipelines that lock in greater reliance on Russia, he said in an apparent reference to Nord Stream 2. “Russian gas can and should be part of the European market, but that market needs to be open and competitive.  Everyone has to play by the rules,” he stressed.

Linas Jegelevicius