On March 22-23 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas is on a formal visit in Latvia. On March 23 he is planned to address security situation and topical aspects of military cooperation with Minister of Defence of Latvia Raimonds Bergmanis, Chief of Defence of Latvia Major General Leonīds Kalniņš, ,and other representatives of the Latvian Armed Forces.
Lt Gen J. V. Žukas will begin by visit the Ministry of Defence of Latvia to meet with Latvia's Minister of Defence. Then a formal welcome ceremony for the Lithuanian Chief of Defence will be held at the Brāļu kapi Cemetery memorial in Riga after which Lt Gen J. V. Žukas will lay a flower tribute at the monument for fallen Latvian soldiers.
Then the Chief of Defence's delegation will meet with the Latvian Chief of Defence at the Joint Staff of the Latvian Armed Forces and hear a briefing on the security situation, capabilities of the Latvian Armed Forces and development plans.
At the end of the visit Lt Gen J. V. Žukas will visit Adazi Training Area to meet with commanders of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade of the Latvian Army and the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group integrated into it, will be briefed on the combat training and service conditions at the units and military infrastructure.
Military cooperation with Latvia is vital for ensuring regional security. Lithuania is developing defence cooperation with Latvia actively in NATO, EU, and the Baltic contexts. Areas of the most intense cooperation between the Baltic militaries are the NATO Air Policing Mission, airspace surveillance, training and qualification improvement of soldiers and the countries' navies. Trilateral and bilateral projects have been also underway for years: Baltic Air Surveillance Network and Control System BALTNET, Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON (Latvia and Lithuania), Baltic Defence College, Baltic Forces BALTFOR. Also, Capabilities and armed defence planning is synchronised, joint military exercises are conducted, as well as training events and seminars for armed forces and their services.
Photo credits: Sgt Spc I. Budzeikaitė
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major Mindaugas Neimontas
+370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
