On April 24 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Arvydas Pocius left for Estonia a meeting of the Baltic Chiefs of Defence will be taking place from April 24 to 26 in Kõue. The meeting will be attended by Lt Gen Arvydas Pocius, Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube, Chief of Defence of Latvia, and Major General Riho Terras, Chief of Defence of Estonia.
The meeting will focus on the relevant points of the Baltic defence cooperation. The Baltic Chiefs of Defence are expected to address such points as capability development, development of the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) and military training. Trilateral projects, the Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON, and the Baltic Air Surveillance Network and Control System BALTNET, joint military training events of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia held in the territories of the three Baltic States, and NATO's Air Policing mission in the Baltics will also be discussed.
On his way to Estonia the Chief of Defence of Lithuania has stopped by in Latvia to attend a tribute ceremony in the district of Ilukste for Lithuanian and Latvian resistance fighters killed in a struggle for freedom during the Soviet occupation. A plaque bearing names of the freedom fighters killed in northern Lithuania and southern Latvia and buried in the area around the township of Subate was formally unveiled in the memorial. Approximately seventy names of Lithuanian guerrilla fighters are inscribed in the plaque as well.
By tradition, the Chiefs of Defence of the Baltic States meet biannually. General Pocius is expected to return to Lithuania on April 26.
Spokesperson to the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Capt Skomantas Povilionis, cell phone no. 00370 682 25 359.
