 On 7 January 2019 he announced that fellow party member Edgars Rinkēvičš, who had already at the time been Latvia's longest-serving foreign minister and had worked under prime ministers Valdis Dombrovskis, Laimdota Straujuma, and Māris Kučinskis, would continue in his current role.On 8 February, he made his first foreign visit to the neighboring country of Estonia, stressing the importance of relations between the two nations.On hist first official visit to Brussels on 22 February 2019, Kariņš assured that Latvia would maintain a "Euro-Atlantic course," and that Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had his full support.