The presidents of the Baltic countries visit Iceland next Thursday
Viðeyjarstofa. mbl.is/Sigurður Bogi
The presidents of the Baltic countries, Estonia, Lativia and Lithuania are coming on an official visit to Iceland next Thursday. Their spouses and an entourage will come with the presidents.
Next Friday Iceland's Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, will invite the presidents to a lunch in Viðey. On that day it is exactly 30 years since the Baltic countries and Iceland started their diplomatic relationship, on the 26th of August in 1991, after Iceland was the first country to recognize their independence in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union.
The visitors will be: Egils Levits, the president of Latvia and his wife, Andra Levie, Gitanas Nausėda , the president of Lithuania and his wife Diana Nausėdienė and the president of Estonia, Alar Karis and his wife Sirje Karis. The foreign ministers of the three countries will also be in the entourage.
The history of Iceland's support for the Baltic countries
Höfði in Reykjavík. Brynjar Gauti
The itinerary will be busy according to an announcement from the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson:
The itinerary starts in the afternoon on Thursday in the House of Parliament. Birgir Ármannsson the speaker of Althing will welcome the guests and go briefly over the history of Althingi, the Icelandic Parliament, before the guests will sit down with representatives of the Icelandic political parties. On Thurday evening there will be an celebratory dinner at Bessastaðir, the President's residence.
On Friday there will be a celebration in Höfði in Reykjavík to commemorate that on the 26th of August 1991 the countries signed a statement acknowledging the political relationship of Iceland with the Baltic countries, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. The presidents of the Baltic countries will address the assembly and after that Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, Iceland's Foreign Minister will introduce a joint announcement of the four countries in celebration of this day which all of the foreign ministers will sign.
From the campus of the University of Iceland. mbl.is/Ómar
From Höfði the group will go to the festival hall of the University of Iceland, where the Icelandic president, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, will give a lecture: "Icebreaker on the International Scene? Icelandic Support for Baltic Independence 1990–1991“. After the presentation all the presidents will have a talk about the relationship between the countries.
Almannagjá in Þingvellir. Þorvaldur Örn Kristmundsson
After the talk the group will go to Viðey, where Iceland's Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, has invited the group for a celebratory dinner. After the dinner the group will be driven to Hellisheiði Power Station where they will be introduced to the utilization of green energy in Iceland and the work of the Icelandic Company Carbfix.
The final stop will be at Þingvellir National Park where the official visit will be concluded.
