Greta Monika Tučkutė enters office as the new Vice Minister of National Defence for National Defence System acquisitions.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to join Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas’s team and for my new responsibilities. We are living in uncertain times with numerous challenges, Russia is waging a war just around the corner against the blameless people of Ukraine and it is an obligation of all of us to help Ukraine win. Lithuania is doing everything we can to assist Ukraine and provision of military weapons is one of the most significant way of helping to fight off the aggressor. Likewise, it is important to ensure a smooth process of weaponry acquisition for our own Armed Forces,” says G. M. Tučkutė.
G. M. Tučkutė emphasizes that as the Vice Minister she will aim to ensure a transparent and fluent continuation of the ongoing acquisitions projects and modernization of Lithuanian Armed Forces weaponry capabilities, as well as application of innovative solutions, particularly encouraging involvement of the Lithuanian industry, in a way that best reflects the Lithuanian Armed Force’s needs. She said she would also focus on intense cooperation with the Allies in order to coordinate the acquisitions of defence capabilities and increase their scope and effectiveness.
G. M. Tučkutė has been working in the area of security and defence for over 15 years. She served at the Office of the NATO Secretary General in Brussels for the past two years which has given her a unique view of the internal work, procedures and peculiarities of the Alliance. After the war in Ukraine was started, G. M. Tučkutė worked extensively on coordination of the information related to the humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, as well as monitoring and analysis of the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
Prior to the position in Brussels, G. M. Tučkutė worked as an Advisor to the Minister of National Defence for defence policy, relations of the Ministry of National Defence and NGOs and inter-institutional affairs. Before that, the current new Vice Minister was focusing on geopolitical and security challenges in the region as she headed the Centre for Geopolitical Studies for over a decade. In the period between 2011–2013 she was responsible for production sales and cooperation with foreign partners at Giraitės Ginkluotės Gamykla AB.
G. M. Tučkutė holds a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in international relations obtained at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
