Lithuanian president joins Bucharest Nine and Nordic leaders to discuss NATO eastern flank security

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda is travelling to Romania on Wednesday to participate in a summit of the Bucharest Nine and Nordic countries, state broadcaster LRT reports, citing the presidential office.

The meeting will focus on preparations for July’s NATO summit in Ankara, continued support for Ukraine, and measures to strengthen security along the alliance’s eastern flank, according to a statement from Nausėda’s office.

Bilateral meetings with other leaders are also planned on the sidelines of the event.

The Bucharest Nine is a regional cooperation format uniting NATO’s eastern flank states—Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary—established in 2015 in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea the previous year. The Nordic group includes Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden.

Last year, Lithuania hosted the first joint summit combining both the Bucharest Nine and Nordic countries in Vilnius.