RIGA - After the restoration of Latvia's independence, one of the challenges for Latvian diplomats has been countering Russian propaganda efforts and explaining this situation to foreign diplomats, the head of the Foreign Ministry's Europe Department Gints Jegermanis said during a conference of Baltic and Scandinavian honorary consuls at the University of Latvia today.

Concerning security issues, Jegermanis noted, among other things, that initially after Latvia's accession to NATO Western allies were not too open in calling for more concrete defense plans for the Baltic States. However, this situation changed after the Russian military offensive against Georgia in 2008.

In his address, the Foreign Ministry representative also poinred out to the challenges Latvian diplomats faced after the restoration of Latvia's independence. He noted that in the 1990s the Latvian diplomatic service was operating in a situation of constant crisis. Jegerman pointed out that initially people from different professions started to work as diplomats and that one of the tasks was to find suitable premises for Latvian embassies, and working for several years on regaining buildings that held Latvian diplomatic missions during the first period of Latvian independence.

As reported, the conference is organized to explain and disseminate the nature of consular work, to dispel myths and to raise awareness of the honorary consular institution both scientifically and practically.