Video report (Author - Lukas Kalvaitis)
On April 9 through 10 Chief of Defence of Croatia Lieutenant General Drago Lovrić is conducting a visit in Lithuania. The guest has already met with Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Arvydas Pocius with whom bilateral military cooperation was addressed particularly focusing on the possibilities of developing the cooperation in the area of combat training and military education. The Lithuanian and Croatian Chiefs of Defence shared their experience and plans of contributing to multinational operations. Regional defence cooperation of the Baltic States was presented to the visiting General. Croatia was invited to join the activities of the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence established in Lithuania.
At the meeting Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen A.Pocius called the cooperation of the two countries in helicopter pilot training programmes a big success. Since 2010 helicopter crews of the Lithuanian Air Force have been undergoing courses for helicopter pilots held in the mountainous part of Croatia. This training opportunity is really valuable for Lithuanian military because of the climatic conditions and landscape characteristics in the areas of multinational operations to which Lithuania is contributing.
The top-ranking military leaders of Lithuania and Croatia also discussed the possibilities of continuing the cooperation in training personnel of the Special Operations Forces and specialists of specific subject-matters, such as cynology.
General Lovrić and General Pocius paid particular attention to the post-ISAF plans of the international community.
During the visit General Lovrić will also make a trip to the Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force in Šiauliai and meet with the Air Contingent of Denmark deployed to conduct the NATO Air Policing mission in the Baltic States. The guest will also pay a visit to the Lithuanian Special Operations Forces.
The Chief of Defence of Croatia is visiting Lithuania at the invitation of the Chief of Defence of Lithuania. This is the first visit by Croatia's Chief of Defence in our country. General Pocius conducted a formal visit in Croatia in September 2012.
Lithuania and Croatia have been developing defence cooperation since 2005 on the basis of a cooperation agreement signed at ministerial level. The first contingent of Lithuanian peacekeepers was deployed to a multinational operation in Croatia in 1994, in the period between 1994 and 1996 nearly a hundred of Lithuanian military were serving in the country. From 2006 to 2010 troops of the Croatian Armed Forces were deployed along with Lithuanians in the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province of Ghor of Afghanistan.
POC: Spokesperson to the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Capt Skomantas Povilionis, cell phone no. 00370 682 25359.
Photos by A. Pliadis (MOD)
