On January 22-23 the Baltic Defence Cooperation Ministerial Committee held a meeting at the Rokantiškės Military Campus. Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė with Minister of Defence of Latvia Andris Sprūds and Minister of Defence of Estonia Hanno Pevkur discussed security of undersea infrastructure, priorities for the NATO Summit in The Hague, assistance to Ukraine and other topics.
“The most pivotal interest in the upcoming NATO Summit is to reiterate the importance of cooperation with the United States and to agree to increase investment in defence in NATO Allies because is it crucial for implementation of the NATO defence plans and commitment to strengthening NATO’s collective defence,” said Minister D. Šakalienė.
The Baltic Ministers of Defence that the new benchmark of NATO defence spending should 3% of GDP and underscored the necessity to urgently strengthen the European defence capabilities with all the European Union has available (investment in defence industry, production increase, stepped up defence spending) and by designing new EU-level financing mechanisms.
Also, Minister announced the joint proposals for the White Paper of the European Commission developed by the Baltic states and Poland on future defence of Europe.
“The key idea is that we need to act fast and make sure that defence is financed under the current and next Multiannual Financial Framework,” said D. Šakalienė.
Another topic addressed at the meeting was security of the undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. D. Šakalienė welcomed the recently launched NATO’s Baltic Sentry activity calling it a timely response.
“This decisions has sent a clear strategic message to Russia and anyone who might plan such assaults against our infrastructure that we take our security very seriously and we will not let it become a norm,” said Minister and added that countries in the region also needed to agree on a common reading of the international law of the sea.
Assistance to Ukraine was high on the agenda at the meeting as well. Ministers reasserted the commitment to allocate at least 0.25% of GDP yearly for the security and defence of Ukraine. D. Šakalienė also pointed out that the russian “shadow fleet” transporting oil across the Baltic Sea is a threat not just to the security of our infrastructure but also earns money for further aggression in Ukraine.
The Baltic Defence Ministers closed the meeting with a signature of a joint communique on further defence cooperation.
The Baltic Defence Cooperation Ministerial Committee meeting in Rokantiškės was the first event of the format to D. Šakalienė in the capacity of Minister of National Defence. Lithuania hands over the annual chairmanship of the format to Estonia in 2025.
Photo credit: Sgt Spc K. Kavolėlis / MoD
