On October 19 Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis met with Estonia’s new Ambassador to Lithuania Kai Kaarelson, congratulated her on the appointment, and expressed delight about the longstanding and strong cooperation between Lithuania and Estonia in the area of security and defence. Minister and Ambassador both agreed that it was necessary to retain NATO attention to deterrence and collective defence and discussed NATO enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic states in considerable detail.
The officials also pointed out that a strong transatlantic bond and U.S. military presence in Europe and the Baltic region remained our key priority in defence area.
Minister and Ambassador agreed to continue the Baltic cooperation in the areas of military mobility, air defence, maritime surveillance, and to support mutual positions on NATO agenda. Minister R. Karoblis tanked Estonia for appointing an expert to the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence in Vilnius and for taking part in the activities pursued by it.
Other issues discussed were cybersecurity and cooperation between Lithuania and Estonia in the Cyber Rapid Response Teams (CRRTs) project developed in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework.
Cooperation with Latvia and Estonia is among Lithuania’s key international cooperation priorities. It is particularly active in relation to the air a policing efforts, airspace surveillance, navies, special forces, Baltic Defence College activities, and joint training. Cooperation in bilateral and trilateral framework projects –Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON), Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL), Baltic Combined Joint Staff Element (B-CJSE), etc. – has been developed for years. The Baltic states also seek to create a Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA) capability, actively align defence planning, capability planning is synchronised, joint procurements are carried out in coordination with each other, joint exercises, training events, workshops are held, service-level military cooperation is developed.
The Baltic Defence Ministers, Chiefs of Defence and Chiefs of the Defence Staffs meet biannually. Defence Policy Directors, commanders of land, air, maritime, special forces and experts of different levels also meet and consult.
Photo credits: G.Maksimovicz-Alkema (MoD)
