HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th August, 2020) Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas has invited US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to attend the Three Seas Initiative summit to be held in Tallinn on October 19-20, Estonian Public Broadcasting portal ERR reported.
The Three Seas Initiative brings together Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. Its stated goal is to strengthen cooperation, primarily for the development of infrastructures in the energy, transport and digital sectors, which will positively affect economic growth, cohesion and security of the EU.
"I recently had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during which I made such an offer to him. So that they could find a suitable time on these dates, and so that someone on their part could participate in the meeting," Ratas said.
Earlier, Estonian media reported that US President Donald Trump could come to the summit in Tallinn, as the United States was showing interest in the initiative, seeing in it new opportunities for relations with Europe. According to Ratas, due to presidential elections to be held in the United States this year, Trump is unlikely to come to Tallinn. He also said it was not yet clear whether the summit would be held in Tallinn or by means of a video conference.
Pompeo said at the Munich Security Conference in February that the United States would allocate about $1 billion to Central and Eastern European countries for energy security projects under the Three Seas Initiative.
