On Thursday, June 27, Ms. Ināra Mūrniece, the Speaker of the Saeima, or Parliament, of the Republic of Latvia, visited Mita Campus to give a lecture titled "Latvia’s perspective on current EU affairs and regional security challenges." This event was organized as Ms. Mūrniece was in Japan to attend the Women Political Leaders (WPL) Summit 2019 held in Tokyo.
After an informal talk with President Akira Haseyama, Ms. Mūrniece moved to the 8th floor hall of the East Research Building where she gave her lecture. In addition to giving an overview of the Republic of Latvia, the significant role the Latvian language played for the nation, and Latvia’s relationship with Japan, she touched on issues such as Latvia’s high proportion of women’s advancement in society when compared with other developed countries. She then moved on to current EU affairs, including Brexit, and regional security challenges faced by Europe. She also emphasized the importance of EU nations being a community that shares values such as democracy in her talk. Finally, to bring her lecture to a close, she introduced a Latvian poem to all those in attendance.
After the lecture, the audience members asked many questions, including those on environmental issues, the key to Latvia’s success in promoting women’s advancement in society, Latvia’s relationship with Russia, issues with people of Russian descent living in Latvia, and the relationship between the EU and China. During the question and answer session, the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia and the former Minister for Health were also present with Ms. Mūrniece to respond to questions, making this a very lively event.