The Riga Conference returns on 9–11 October for its 20th time, convening policymakers, military leaders, diplomats and analysts at the House of Science of the University of Latvia. Organisers frame this year’s agenda around a blunt reality: a “fragmented world” where unity, security and resilience are under strain — and where Europe’s role alongside the United States will be tested. The gathering bills itself as the largest security and foreign-policy forum in the Nordic-Baltic region, and the milestone year suggests a stock-take as much as a strategy session.
The programme zeroes in on questions that have hovered over every transatlantic discussion since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but are now unavoidable: the future of NATO, how Europe and the US divide responsibilities, and what “collective defence” means when threats mutate across military, cyber and economic domains. Long-term security guarantees for Ukraine and the continued containment of Russia sit alongside a push to strengthen Europe’s own defence industrial capacity through strategic investment. The theme, “Unity, Security and Resilience in a Fragmented World”, is not subtle; it is designed to force clarity.
Latvia’s leadership will open proceedings, with Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and University of Latvia Rector Prof. Gundars Bērziņš setting the stage. A heavy-hitting line-up follows: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže and Defence Minister Andris Sprūds, the US Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew J. Whitaker, and European Commissioners Andrius Kubilius (Defence and Space) and Valdis Dombrovskis (Economy and Productivity). The European Investment Bank’s Vice-President Karl Nehammer and former NATO Military Committee Chair Admiral Rob Bauer add institutional heft from finance and the alliance’s military nerve centre. The range underscores how security debates now sprawl from parliaments to boardrooms and budgets.
The organisers are keen to portray the forum as more than an annual talk-shop. “It is a place where problems are addressed, ideas are formulated, and transatlantic partnerships are strengthened,” says Jānis Karlsbergs, who chairs the Latvian Transatlantic Organization (LATO). The message is that the Riga stage has become a venue where discussion can harden into policy, particularly for smaller frontline states. For Latvia and its Baltic neighbours, the platform is also about visibility: shaping the international agenda rather than merely absorbing it.
Ukraine will be threaded through multiple panels. EU Representative to Ukraine Vsevolod Chentsov and senior EU diplomat Matti Maasikas are set to examine the mechanics of allied support — both the practical pipelines that keep Kyiv fighting and the political cohesion needed to make long-term commitments stick. That conversation sits beside a Baltic Sea security session bringing together Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and NATO’s legal adviser John Sword. Expect a frank audit of regional vulnerabilities and the legal-policy scaffolding that must support deeper cooperation with allies.
The programme expands beyond the usual set-pieces with a new side event for business leaders on 8 October: “Business, Security and Resilience in an Era of Uncertainty.” The premise is familiar to anyone navigating supply-chain shocks and sanctions regimes — resilience is not just a military term. Entrepreneurs, policymakers and international experts will swap notes on crisis management and adaptation when geopolitics intrudes on balance sheets. It is a timely addition, recognising that private-sector capacity and innovation increasingly sit inside national-security planning, from critical infrastructure to defence production.
Since 2006, the Riga Conference has pitched itself as one of Northern Europe’s key discussion platforms on security and foreign policy. Organisers expect more than 500 participants from over 45 countries to attend in person this year, with livestreams available on the conference website and through Latvian and international media partners, as well as social platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. In a year dense with elections, wars and market jitters, that reach matters: the forum’s audience is no longer just the delegates in the room.
If the guest list reads like a tour of EU and NATO machinery, the back-page credits also tell a story about coalition-building. LATO organises the event with Latvia’s foreign and defence ministries, in close cooperation with the University of Latvia, the European Commission’s Representation in Latvia and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Sponsorships and acknowledgements span embassies from Sweden to Canada and a cross-section of companies — from transport and insurance to aerospace and defence — as well as regional think-tanks and media outlets. In the Baltic context, where civil, academic and private-sector networks are often enlisted to build resilience, that mix is part of the point.
For Lithuania and the wider region, Riga’s agenda will resonate. The Baltic Sea session promises to spotlight how frontline states assess risk and opportunity amid a shifting legal and strategic landscape; the Ukraine-focused panels will test how well allies can convert solidarity into systems and schedules that endure. The addition of a business-security track underlines a harder truth: the boundaries between defence, economics and technology are dissolving, and governments will lean more heavily on industry to deliver both capacity and speed. The conference’s 20th year arrives as a reminder that anniversaries are markers, not milestones; the real measure will be whether conversations in Riga translate into commitments that outlast the news cycle.
The full programme is published online, with the main sessions scheduled from 9 to 11 October and the business side event on 8 October. For those following from afar, a stream will be available via the conference website and partner channels. For those in the room, the expectation is clear: move beyond broad statements to the specifics of collective defence, Ukraine’s long-term security architecture and Europe’s defence investment. Two decades on, Riga has earned its status as a listening post for transatlantic debates; this year, it also reads like a to-do list.
October 8 | The Rīga Conference 2025 – Business Forum | Live stream from 9:00 to 14:30
October 9 | The Rīga Conference 2025 – Day 1 | Live stream from 11:00 to 20:30
October 10 | The Rīga Conference 2025 – Day 2 | Live stream from 8:30 to 19:30
October 11 | The Rīga Conference 2025 – Day 3 | Live stream from 9:00 to 13:00
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