On March 22-23 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas conducted a formal visit to Latvia where he met with Latvia's Minister of Defence Raimonds Bergmanis, Chief of Defence of Latvia Lieutenant General Leonīds Kalniņš, and other representatives of the Latvian Armed Forces.
At the meeting at the Ministry of Defence of Latvia Minister R. Bergmanis thanked Lt Gen J. V. Žukas for a lasting and close bilateral, as well as Baltic-format, cooperation in defence areas and expressed hope that ways to further strengthen it will be sought. In his turn Lithuania's Chief of Defence pointed out the need for the Baltic states to coordinate more closely their positions on combat training and integration into the Baltic states' defence of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Groups deployed here.
After the meeting a formal welcome ceremony for the Lithuanian Chief of Defence was held at the Brāļu kapi Cemetery memorial in Riga during which Lt Gen J. V. Žukas laid a flower tribute at the monument for fallen Latvian soldiers.
Then the Chief of Defence's delegation met with the Latvian Chief of Defence at the Joint Staff of the Latvian Armed Forces and heard a briefing on the security situation, capabilities of the Latvian Armed Forces and development plans.
The Chiefs of Defence discussed the progress and challenges of the national forces' readiness, shared experience in the area of improving interoperability of national and eFP forces, addressed topical themes of NATO agenda in the context of the upcoming Military Committee Conference and the NATO Summit which will follow. The Generals also considered the possibilities of strengthening cooperation of both countries' land and special operations forces.
At the end of the visit Lt Gen J. V. Žukas visited Adazi Training Area to meet with commanders of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade of the Latvian Army and the Canadian-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group integrated into it, and was briefed on the combat training and service conditions at the units and military infrastructure.
Military cooperation with Latvia is vital for ensuring regional security. Lithuania is developing defence cooperation with Latvia actively in NATO, EU, and the Baltic contexts. Areas of the most intense cooperation between the Baltic militaries are the NATO Air Policing Mission, airspace surveillance, training and qualification improvement of soldiers and the countries' navies. Trilateral and bilateral projects have been also underway for years: Baltic Air Surveillance Network and Control System BALTNET, Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON (Latvia and Lithuania), Baltic Defence College, Baltic Forces BALTFOR. Also, Capabilities and armed defence planning is synchronised, joint military exercises are conducted, as well as training events and seminars for armed forces and their services.
Photo credits: Gatis Dieziņš (Latvian Armed Forces)
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major Mindaugas Neimontas
+370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
