Latvia Eyes Potential Opportunities with the Turkish Defense Industry

Within the scope of his official visit to Antalya during March 9-15, 2022 to participate Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which took place March 11-13, 2022, and with the kind support of Colonel Janis DREIMANIS Defense (Military, Army, Air and Armament) Attaché of Latvia in Turkey, Defence Turkey Magazine had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Minister of Defense of Latvia Dr. Artis PABRIKS on March 10th in Antalya. We discussed first hand information on the Latvian MoD, defense budget, ongoing programs that have been launched for the modernization of the Latvian Army and Latvia’s approach to Turkey in terms of defense industrial cooperation.

Date: Issue 113 - April 2022

Defence Turkey: Could you please provide some key facts about the Ministry of Defense of Latvia? Could you elaborate on the structure, responsibilities and number of personnel working at the Ministry?

Minister PABRIKS: Well, we are situated in our historic Building of War Ministry, which was created just after the First World War in the center of Riga. We have several hundred employees in the Ministry. So for our country, this is enough, and we are a country with Civilian Authority controlling the military. Our Army consists of 5 Brigades, which are one professional brigade and four National Guard brigades which are voluntary. So this is the structure of our Army, and of course, we have Navy and also certain Air Defense.

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Latvia Eyes Potential Opportunities with the Turkish Defense Industry

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