On November 22 new Defence Attaché of Italy in Lithuania Col Raffaele Vladimir Forgione was accredited at a ceremony at the Ministry of National Defence.
Col R. V. Forgione was congratulated upon his diplomatic service by Vice Minister of National Defence Vytautas Umbrasas. He thanked Italy for its contribution to the security in the Baltic region. Italy is an active participant of the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states, NATO enhanced Forward Presence initiative, deploys military units to the Battalion Battle Group in Latvia. “Those missions and initiatives are vital to the security in our region,” Vice Minister.
The ceremony was also attended by Ambassador of Italy to Lithuania HE Francesco Fransoni and representatives of the Ministry of National Defence and the armed Forces.
The new Defence Attaché of Italy in Lithuania graduated from the Military Academy of Italy, served in different units of the Italian Armed Forces, and in mission in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Macedonia.
Defence Attachés of Italy in Lithuania are based in Warsaw, Poland.
Even though Lithuania and Italy are separated by a considerable geographical distance, the countries’ armed forces are significantly different in size, weaponry and equipment, and even face slightly different security challenges, the cooperation between the militaries has been carried out in different forms and scopes for over fifteen years.
One of the largest examples of cooperation between Lithuania and Italy in defence area is the procurement of three C-27J Spartan tactical transport aircraft from Alenia Aeronautica S.p.A in 2006-2009. The Italian Armed Forces is contributing to qualification updating of crews and sustainment personnel and helps Lithuania train fighter aircraft operation officers to this day.
The Italian Air Force Detachment takes part in the NATO Air Policing Mission and next deployment is planned for 2020. The country also contributes to the NATO Energy Security Centre f Excellence in Vilnius –one Italian officer serves there and another one – at the NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius.
Photo credit: Giedrė Maksimovicz
