Baltic leaders stress unity

Despite occasional differences and rivalry, the three Baltic states are and will remain united, said the prime ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on Friday.

The three leaders had gathered for a meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers in Riga on Friday and asserted so at a joint news conference that followed their talks.

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, Lithuania's Saulius Skvernelis and Estonia's Juri Ratas met in the Latvian capital to discuss cooperation.

After their talks and meetings with Latvian parliament speaker Inara Murniece and representatives of the Baltic Assembly, the three prime ministers answered reporters' questions about issues like a recent tax war between Latvia and Estonia, work on the Rail Baltica railroad project and disagreements over buying electric power from Belarus' Astravyets nuclear power plant, which Lithuania considers unsafe.

All three leaders underlined that differences on some issues are not undermining Baltic unity.

"Some minor challenges can always be found but we need to look at the big picture, and this big picture shows very clearly that the three Baltic states -- Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia -- stick together on major projects and on major issues and will stick together also in the future," said Karins.