Baltic Nations

• 21 Aug 2019

The Vice President of India is on a trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from 17^th-21^st August 2019, the first-ever high-level visit from India to the three Baltic countries.

• The Vice President’s visit to the three Baltic nations is to advance India's outreach to the important countries in the region.
• The V.P. also expressed gratitude to Latvia and Lithuania for backing India for permanent membership in an expanded and reformed United Nations Security Council.
• The Vice President addressed the first-ever India-Latvia Business Forum and called for taking the bilateral trade and economic cooperation to new heights.
  
  • He also unveiled the bust of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi at the National Library of Latvia.
• The Vice President’s visit to Estonia includes talks on the development of bilateral relations as well as possible cooperation in the UN and international organisations.

Baltic Countries

• Baltic states, the northeastern region of Europe, includes the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.

• The Baltic states are bounded on the west and north by the Baltic Sea, which gives the region its name, on the east by Russia, on the southeast by Belarus, and on the southwest by Poland and an exclave of Russia
• In 1991, their then popularly elected governments declared independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with overwhelming support.
• The Baltic region is not rich in natural resources. Though Estonia is an important producer of oil shale, a large share of mineral and energy resources is imported.
• Agriculture remains important to the Baltic economy, with potatoes, cereal grains, and fodder crops produced and dairy cattle and pigs raised.
• India and Baltic countries have historical connect and common linguistic roots. The cutting edge technology and innovation ecosystems of the Baltic countries complement India’s huge market and appetite for these technologies.

Source: PIB