Broadcasters from the Baltic States and Ukraine have agreed to cooperate

The aim of the agreement is to create mechanisms of mutual support for public media of the Baltic States and Ukraine – LRT, Latvijas Televizija and Latvijas Radio, ERR from Estonia and Suspilne from Ukraine.

The agreement was signed during the General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Cyprus.

As reported by LRT, the aim of the memorandum of understanding is to promote solidarity and unity among EBU members, create a basis for cooperation between public media organisations, and ensure mutual support and continuity of their activities in the event of crises.

The agreement provides for the exchange of information and knowledge, and the partners undertake to provide assistance to any public media organization that signs the memorandum and that is unable to operate effectively in its country due to a state of emergency, and to ensure the continuity of its activities.

LRT reports that such assistance may include, among other things, the sharing of technical resources and logistical support, and in the event of an emergency, partners may provide access to their own communication channels and platforms to disseminate information to the public.

“In the conditions of war in Ukraine, we also immediately began to prepare for possible military scenarios. Given the experience of Ukraine, we have already taken care to ensure that in the event of destruction or seizure of LRT infrastructure, LRT data is secured and that LRT can continue broadcasting from data centers outside Lithuania,” the statement quotes LRT CEO Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė, who signed the memorandum.

According to her, future plans include ensuring the safety of journalists and LRT headquarters, creating backup correspondent points and planning the broadcast of programs from abroad.

Having offered to contribute to the memorandum, the heads of public media organisations from the Baltic States and Ukraine also called on other EBU members to engage in similar cooperation.