Latvian Defense Ministry State Secretary Janis Sarts will make a visit to London on March 7-9 to discuss bilateral defense issues with the British top defense officials, the ministry reported.

Sarts will meet with British Defense Ministry’s Permanent Under-Secretary of State Ursula Brennan and Director General for Security Policy Tom McKane. They will discuss issues concerning organization of the EU battle group and participation of the United Kingdom in it, Nordic region’s cooperation with the UK and the operations of the International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) in Afghanistan.

Other subjects to be discussed will concern the agenda of the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago and NATO air policing mission in the Baltics as a good example of smart defense.

Sarts will also take part in a discussion about the security challenges created by the economic crisis from the Baltic perspective at the International Institute of Strategic Studies.