Cross-sector cooperation and sustainability

The aim of a comprehensive national defence system is to promote the readiness of the population to defend the country, to create preconditions for overcoming crisis situations in the country, as well as to ensure the functioning of functions important to the state during crises and other turmoil. The operation of nationally important functions is ensured by the establishment of planning, coordination and partnership systems between state institutions, the private sector, NGOs and the population. Thus, the practical task of a comprehensive national defence system is for each state institution to define specific tasks and role in national defence, as well as to establish closer ties between Latvian citizens, entrepreneurs, NGOs and public administration institutions in order to reduce the mistrust gap between citizens and public administration.

In order to develop cooperation between ministries and facilitate understanding about the comprehensive national defence among ministries, a working group for coordination of comprehensive national defence issues has been established with a member of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence as its head. The ministers of all sectors are represented in the working group, as well as the director of the State Chancellery, with the Ministry of Defence acting as the secretariat of the working group. The main task of the working group is to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive national defence system at the highest level, as well as to provide strategic level guidelines for the development of a comprehensive national defence system and action plans, as well as for cross-sector coordination. In order to facilitate the work at various levels, a working group was set up to develop a comprehensive national defence system and to determine the necessary action at the level of State Secretaries with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence as its head.

In order to promote cooperation between the private and public sectors, the Ministry of Defence has begun a closer cooperation with state institutions, non-governmental organizations and representatives of the private sector to organize crisis scenario mock-ups and improve their knowledge of necessary actions in crisis and war situations. The results of the surveys have led to the conclusion that businesses also need to organize training and regularly train employees to act in crisis situations, so the Ministry of Defence is ready to continue the established cooperation with the private sector to organize training and improve companies' knowledge of crisis and war. Based on the conclusions made by the Ministry of Defence on the conduct of the mock trials and the issues addressed, amendments have been made to the regulatory enactments to facilitate any kind of crisis management. The Ministry of Defence has also started organizing an annual national defence seminar for leaders - leaders of institutions, companies and non-governmental organizations, politicians, academics and journalists - to promote the involvement of them and the groups they represent in comprehensive national defence.

One of the directions of the Ministry of Defence in the process of implementing a comprehensive national defence system is the promotion of the role of NGOs in national defence and the involvement of NGOs in the defence planning process, thus closer cooperation has been established with various NGOs. The Ministry of Defence's various meetings, seminars and exercises, as well as a separate awareness-raising exercise to test the NGO's ability to inform the public about important news in a hypothetical crisis, have helped the non-governmental sector to understand its role in comprehensive national defence. At the same time, the resilience and resources of NGOs in potential crisis situations are tested and improved, as well as the development of Latvian society's patriotic values and readiness to engage in national defence is promoted.