North European resilience summit examines regional crisis readiness

Experts, business leaders and representatives of the public, defence and other sectors from the Baltic and Nordic countries are meeting in Riga to discuss practical ways to strengthen regional resilience, LSM reported.

The second North European Resilience Summit is being held on September 10 at the National Library of Latvia. This year’s discussions focus on leadership and societal resilience, the role of business in strengthening preparedness, and cooperation between the military and civilian sectors.

The summit aims not only to exchange experience but also to find practical solutions that can help society, businesses and state institutions prepare for crises, respond more effectively and recover more quickly.

Participants include Edward Lucas, founder of the Baltic International Security Centre; anthropologist and behavioural researcher Helelyn Tammsaar; Atlantic Council expert and journalist Elisabeth Braw; Meelis Kitsing, rector of the Estonian Business School; defence expert and military industry entrepreneur Jānis Garisons; Norstat chief executive Erling Eriksen; Citadele bank chief executive and board chair Rūta Ežerskienė; and Brasa Defence Systems adviser Kristiāns Brēdermanis.

The summit is organised by CIREN, a North European resilience organisation. Its stated aim is to improve the ability of people and organisations in Northern Europe to deal with actual or potential natural disasters, terrorism, hybrid threats, military activity and other human-caused disasters. It also seeks to strengthen resilience through threat reduction and preparedness measures, emergency response, and the continuity and restoration of operations.