On September 21, during the High-Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Geopolitics and Security Studies Center brought together high-level political, diplomatic, security, and business representatives from the Baltic states and the United States to discuss shared security challenges, the future of transatlantic cooperation, and the resilience of the Baltic region.
The event featured insights from former U.S. Secretary of State and CIA Director Michael R. Pompeo, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys, Philip Morris International CEO Jacek Olczak, Dr. Matthew Kroenig, Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, Baltic ambassadors to the United States, as well as security and international affairs experts. The conversations were moderated by GSSC Director Linas Kojala.
The discussions focused on Baltic–U.S. cooperation in the fields of security and defence, strengthening NATO’s northeastern flank, the importance of transatlantic ties, and the evolving landscape of conventional and hybrid threats.
The event also featured the presentation of GSSC’s latest study, The New Frontiers of Resilience: Illicit Trade, Criminal Infrastructure and the Wider Hybrid Threat, which examines how criminal networks, illicit trade, and related infrastructure can be exploited in the broader context of hybrid threats.
These issues were further explored during an expert panel featuring Žydrūnas Bartkus, former Director of Lithuania’s Special Investigation Service; Henrik Praks, Research Fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS); and Michal Mierzejewski of Philip Morris International. The discussion was moderated by Sāra Vīnberga, Head of the EU Programme at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA).
