Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas is on a formal visit to Riga today: he has met with Minister of Defence of Latvia Andris Sprūds to discuss NATO and EU agenda, priorities ahead of the oncoming NATO Summit in Washington and nationally important topics.
This is the first formal L.Kasčiūnas’ visit to Latvia during which he and his Latvian colleague discussed the oncoming NATO Summit in Washington and shared standpoints of the Baltic states regarding the key aspects of the Summit agenda. Both Ministers pointed out executability of NATO’s regional defence plans as one of the top priorities for Lithuania and Latvia alike.
“We need to work together to get the Allies to commit to focus on the main capability gaps shortly. When it comes to air defence, our aim is to speed up the implementation of the Rotational NATO Air Defence Model. We are grateful to the Netherlands for dedicating their Patriot air and missile defence system for the exercise in Lithuania in July and look forward for it to kick-start further implementation of the Rotational Air Defence Model,” said Minister of National Defence L. Kasčiūnas.
Minister also discussed national themes, such as increasing defence spending, boosting defence industry, development of infrastructure and capabilities.
Ministers also shared latest data concerning implementation of the Baltic line of defence. In the beginning of this year Ministers of Defence of the three Baltic states signed a Protocol of Intent on cooperation in developing counter-mobility measures on the borderline with hostile states. The project promotes development of a mutual counter-mobility barrier and thus has a special meaning in the trilateral Baltic context.
Ministers of Defence of Lithuania and Latvia then discussed assistance to Ukraine, international coalitions created to facilitate it and other initiatives established to help the war-torn country resist the enemy.
Minister L. Kasčiūnas headed to Riga immediately after a visit to Berlin where he met with Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius to discuss stationing of the German Brigade in Lithuania, he shared updates on the nearest plans and ongoing work with the Latvian counterpart as well.