Senior officials of the Republic of Latvia, including Raimonds Bergmanis, Minister of Defence, Dace Melbārde, Minister of Culture, Rihards Kozlovskis, Minister of the Interior, Dzintars Rasnačs, Minister of Justice and a number of Latvian State Secretaries and Senior Military Personnel participated in a “Seminar on Strategic Communications for Senior Officials”, that took place on October 23rd.
Opening the seminar, Speaker of the Parliament, Ināra Mūrniece, noted: “Since the opening of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence we have reached a new level of development as a member of the NATO Alliance. I would like to express my deepest respect for those who have been part of this initiative. Opening the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence here in Riga has proven to be a great historical achievement that shows that Latvia can provide expertise to the Alliance”.
This seminar gathered experts and researchers on strategic communications from NATO and the Allied countries. Seminar themes, along others, were "What is Strategic Communication is and what it is not" (presented by Dr.Steve Tatham)", “Strategic Narratives” (presented by Mr. Thomas Elkjer Nissen)”, “Changes in the Information Environment and how they Impact Governance” (presented by Dr. Cristina Archetti), “NATO Approaches to Strategic Communications” (presented by Mr. Mark Laity) and several case studies on cross-governmental cooperation during crisis situations.