Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada will open four new embassies in Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Armenia, and will reinforce its presence in Latvia amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The minister made the announcement today at the NATO summit in Spain, where Canada is facing pressure to increase its defence spending to two percent of GDP, a target all members agreed to in 2014.
Joly says Canada must push back against Russian influence, including its soft power, disinformation campaigns and brute force, and diplomacy is one of the most effective ways to respond to these challenges.
To that end, she says Canada will strengthen its diplomatic presence in the four countries as well as appoint ambassadors for the new embassies, while increasing its footprint in Latvia.
She also responded to remarks made by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said he expects Canada to fulfil its commitment to other members and increase its defence spending to meet the needs of an increasingly dangerous world.
Joly told reporters that Canadians can be proud of the country’s work within NATO and in the Ukrainian conflict in general, including training 30,000 Ukrainian forces and leading a battlegroup in Latvia.
