On June 26 Vice Minister of National Defence Vytautas Umbrasas discussed security situation in the Baltic and the Mediterranean regions at a meeting with Ambassador of Portugal to Lithuania Rita Laranjinha. Vice Minister thanked Portugal for the support to the efforts to strengthen NATO’s eastern borders and the security of Lithuania and the Baltic region, and praised active bilateral cooperation, especially in the area of military exercises and training.
Lithuanian Vice Minister of National Defence also stressed that Lithuania understood the issues of NATO’s southern allies and sought to contribute to collective efforts to solve them.
Defence cooperation of Lithuania and Portugal
Portugal’s military units are deployed in Lithuania and training as part of the NATO Assurance Measures agreed on to strengthen allies’ security. Soldiers of rotational land force companies of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, U.S., Poland, Luxembourg, Hungary and Germany have already trained in Lithuania since spring 2014.
Portugal deployed four rotations of the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states to date, also as a lead nation in Lithuania. Also, P-3C of the Portuguese Air Force was sent to Šiauliai Air Base as planned in the NATO Assurance Measures to patrol the sea, identify and monitor movement above surface, provide additional information for fighter pilots and thus strengthen the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic region.
Portugal also delegates offices to the headquarters of the NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius.
Photo credit: Alfredas Pliadis (MoD)
