On 29 March 2004, Latvia became a full member of NATO – in Washington, Prime Minister Indulis Emsis submitted the ratification documents of the North Atlantic Treaty to the U.S. State Department, completing the legal accession procedure. In the same enlargement wave, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia also joined the alliance. For Latvia, this was a historic security turning point – after the experience of occupation in the 20th century, the state entered a collective defense system with NATO Article 5 guarantees for the first time.

Latvia’s accession to NATO was one of its central foreign-policy goals after the restoration of independence. It anchored Latvia in the transatlantic security space and became an important answer to the Baltic states’ historical vulnerability between great powers.