On April 27-28 Chiefs of Defence of the three Baltic States, Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas (Lithuania), Lieutenant General Riho Terras (Estonia) and Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube (Latvia), discussed relevant issues of security and defence cooperation of the Baltic region at a meeting in Palanga.
"We have discussed the results of the coordination of Baltic defence planning at the meeting. Our staffs have made a considerable progress in this regard, I must admit. That will allow us to make more use of the armed resources available, to provide Host Nation Support for deployed allied forces better, and to coordinate military actions more successfully in case armed defence is needed," Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas said.
Chief of Defence underlined that a better interoperability will be developed through a joint exercise for communications and information systems personnel of the Baltic armed forces planned to be held next year and by enhancing defence cooperation with Poland. To ensure the latter the Chief of Defence of Poland will be invited to attend future meetings in such format.
Security situation in the region, cooperation of the Baltic States with the United States of America, the Baltic countries' participation in the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin, and the prospective contribution to the NATO Response Force in 2016, were addressed in the format known as the Baltic Military Committee.
The Baltic CHODs also focussed on perspectives of further tri-national defence cooperation, such as: the Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON, the Baltic Air Surveillance Network and Control System BALTNET, the project of the trilateral Baltic Battalion BALTFOR, and the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL).
The Baltic Chiefs of Defence are held annually in one of the Baltic States on a rotational basis. Next meeting is planned to take place in Estonia in spring 2016.
POC: Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Captain Mindaugas Neimontas
Office phone 00370 5 278 5091, cell phone 00370 682 25359, e-mail: mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
Photo credit: Sergeant A. Vitkauskas
