On Thursday, March 14, 2019, key officials from the U.S., Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, including Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, Minister of Energy Kadri Simson of Estonia, State Secretary Eriks Egilitis of Latvia, and Minister of Energy Zygimantas Vaiciunas of Lithuania, met on the sidelines of the 1st Ministerial of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation in Houston, Texas.
The Ministers discussed a wide array of expanded energy cooperation between the three Baltic States and the United States, including efforts in pursuit of desynchronization and the ultimate synchronization with the European network, cybersecurity collaboration, renewable energy deployment and best practices, and the creation of a uniform natural gas market within the region.
The Ministers agreed on the importance of close cooperation under the umbrella of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation in the form of a 3+1 Forum. This Forum of cooperation will provide an opportunity to test innovative ideas related to energy markets that could present unique opportunities for the broader European energy network, particularly in the area of natural gas and LNG.
The U.S., Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have witnessed an increase in opportunities for increased economic interconnections, particularly in energy, within the past decade alone, and the Ministers seek to promote and augment such examples of transatlantic cooperation.
In an effort to promote all of these shared objectives the Ministers have agreed to meet at the soonest possible availability in 2019.