On April 24 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Jonas Vytautas Žukas is departing for Estonia to attend a two-day meeting of the Baltic Military Committee at Chiefs of Defence level. The event will address topical security and military cooperation matters in the Baltic region.
The first day of the meeting will see Chefs of Defence discuss military command and control challenges in the region, operation results and way ahead of the Baltic Combined Joint Staff Element (B-CJSE) - an instrument to coordinate the countries' armed defence planning, trilateral cooperation of the Land Forces and the Special Operations Forces, major NATO and other international exercises to be held in the region in 2019 and 2020, while gathered at the Viru Infantry Battalion in the town of Jõhvi. Also, positions are planned to be exchanged concerning the NATO Readiness Initiative.
At lunch working session a teleconference is planned to be held with Lieutenant General Slawomir Wojciechovski, Commander of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast HQ in Szczecin, Poland, which is certified as the High-Readiness Force Headquarters (LAND).
On the second day of the meeting Lt Gen J. V. Žukas and Chief of Defence of Estonia Maj Gen Martin Herem and Chief of Defence of Latvia Lt Gen Leonids Kalninš will continue the work in the Estonian Defence League (Estonian: Kaitseliit) unit in Narva. The Generals will discuss trilateral cooperation of the countries' Navies and Air Forces, plans and activities of the Baltic Defence College.
Major ongoing trilateral Lithuanian-Latvian-Estonian defence cooperation projects are: the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) - at the Ministries of Defence and the Armed Forces level, the Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT) - at the Land Forces level, the Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET) - at the Air Forces level, and the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON) - at the Navies level.
The Baltic Military Committee meets twice a year on a rotational basis, once at Chiefs of Defence level, and at Chiefs of Defence Staffs level the other time.
Photo credit: Sgt Spc Ieva Budzeikaitė
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Maj Mindaugas Neimontas, +370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
