Latvia is investing €38m to make the Selonia Military Training Area in the southeast of the country operational by 2025. The new base will be almost twice the size of the Adazi base north of Riga, where the NATO battle group is currently deployed. The Latvian government has designated the 26,000 hectare development „of national importance” and is looking for partners to co-finance the construction. Estonia is also expanding the Nursipalu base in the southeast of the country to accommodate a larger number of allied troops. The three Baltic states are pressing NATO to expand its presence through the permanent or rotational stationing of a battalion in each of them.
According to business owners in nearby Ādaži, allied troops helped them survive the Covid-19 crisis as their share in local consumption amounts to 30%. Growth in the region and investments in public infrastructure have also pushed up real estate value.
Local producers and services are providing the military with everything it needs, including catering, physical health, entertainment, beauty care and other services.
