On November 29 Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas had a meeting with Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Yuryj Dzhygyr who is on a visit in Lithuania. The officials focused particularly on transparency of procurement and anti-corruption measures which is one of the key issues on the agenda of the present Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov.
“We value and support Ukraine’s effort in implementing the defence reform regardless of the war. Lithuania will be sharing expertise with Ukraine on transparent procurement procedure development and supervision. We will transfer to Ukraine our best practices, the scratch we began with, the legislation, methods of ensuring transparency of procurements and corruption prevention,” said A. Anušauskas.
Minister assured the guest of high prioritization of MoD assistance to Ukraine and briefed him on the updated concept of the demining coalition for Ukraine assembled by Lithuania. The concept encompasses assistance in military and humanitarian min clearance efforts. There are 22 nations that have expressed interest in joining the coalition so far.
Wednesday Y. Dzhygyr met with Vice Minister of National Defence Greta Monika Tučkute. They discussed Lithuanian-Ukrainian cooperation options in defence industry research and development. Lithuania aims to benefit from Ukraine’s experience in innovation.
Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine is in Lithuania on November 29 through 30 to attend High-level Seminar: the Refocused EU Efforts and the Level of Ambition on Cooperation with the Eastern Partnership Countries in Security and Defence Area. The event has been hosted by the Ministry of National Defence for a decade to facilitate engagement of the Eastern Partners in the EU Common Security and Defence Agenda.
Photo credit: MoD/A.Pliadis
