Latvian president inaugurates new NATO offices in Riga

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis on Thursday officially opened the new offices of the NATO Centre of Excellence for Strategic Communications (COE Stratcom) in the Latvian capital Riga, Baltic News Service reported.

Vejonis said that COE Stratcom would have a great role to play in the future.

"Every day there is a battle going on over people's hearts and minds therefore strategic communications will play a great role in the future," he said.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by many foreign officials, including the chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and John Barrasso, and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.

The Lithuanian president said that NATO could handle any challenges. She noted it was symbolic that each of the three Baltic states hosted a NATO Center of Excellence.

Grybauskaite said she believed that international efforts would help the NATO COE Stratcom to be successful.

The NATO Centre of Excellence for Strategic Communications was launched in Latvia on Oct. 1 last year. The purpose of COE Stratcom is work out proposals and possible ways of action to improve strategic communications, to organize research and develop training, as well as give any other support in line with the Alliance's priorities and tasks set in this field.