On Monday, 31 May, Mr Gundars Daudze, Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, and Mr John Tanner, President of the NATO PA, inaugurated a flowerbed arranged in the form the NATO PA Riga Session logo in Jēkaba Square.

Mr. G.Daudze indicated that Latvia did its best to make sure that the NATO PA Riga Session proceeds flawlessly. “Today we want to give a lasting present to the inhabitants and guests of Riga,” said the Speaker of the Saeima at the ceremony dedicated to the new flowerbed arranged in the colours of NATO’s logo and Latvia’s flag. 

„It clearly symbolises our close and constructive cooperation, as well as the fact that Latvia is a full-fledged NATO member state which is aware of its friends, partners and allies,” emphasised Mr G.Daudze.

Attendees of the ceremony were also addressed by Mr John Tanner, President of the NATO PA, who expressed his deepest gratitude to the Latvian people for their hospitality shown to several hundreds of guests. 

There is hardly a better way to thank Latvia than to plant this flowerbed, which will remind you about the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Spring Session and will give pleasure to guests of Riga during the entire summer, stressed the NATO PA President. 

During the ceremony, the attendees could enjoy the musical performance by the orchestra of the Latvian National Armed Forces, as well as the defile of the Honour Guard of the Staff Battalion of the Armed Forces.

The flowerbed occupies 140 square metres and contains about 6,000 plants. The creators of the concept point out that the flowerbed contains stylised compass, which in NATO’s logo symbolises the member states’ common road towards peace. 

The flowerbed features the colours of the Latvian flag and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s logo, as it consists of red iresines, white begonias, petunias, silver–leaved cinerarias, and blue ageratums.

Photos from the event are available: http://www.natopariga.lv/en/photos/category/36-unveiling-of-a-flovwerbed 
Video from the event is available: http://www.natopariga.lv/en/video?task=viewvideo&video_id=30
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