In the Chiefs of Defence of the Baltic States meeting of April 19-20 in Tukum Lt Gen Arvydas Pocius, Chief of Defence of Lithuania, Maj Gen Raimondas Graube, Chief of Defence of Latvia, and Brig Gen Riho Terras, Chief of Defence of Estonia, reached agreements regarding the future of cooperative military projects and development of the cooperation vision.
"It was a real example of cooperative work, joint agreements were reached to all the agenda points," described the results of the meeting Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen A. Pocius. Lithuanian CHOD expressed his delight that an agreement regarding a vital international project - the vision of the future development of the joint Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON - had been reached.
The progress of transformation of the Baltic national armed forces and directions of developing infrastructure were addressed at the meeting. Points of combat training, development of capabilities, cooperative exploitation of present and planned infrastructure and simulation systems according to the principles of Smart Defence were also discussed in detail.
Chiefs of Defence also touched upon on the contribution of the Baltic countries into the EU and NATO military projects, and the opportunities to form joint capabilities for duty in NATO Response Force in the future. A lot of attention was paid to the points of developing the Baltic Defence College (BALDEFCOL) and military training. The Baltic States seek further improving military training at BALTDEFCOL that trains officers on the basis of NATO standards.
Baltic CHODs discussed relevant points of the NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission. The meeting was closed by signing the first three certificates of the newly established Baltic Air Police medals. Medals will be delivered for keeping at the national military museums of the Baltic countries. In the future the medal is planned to be presented to the participants of the Baltic Air Policing mission.
In the beginning of the meeting the Baltic CHODs paid a visit to the memorial bunker of Latvian guerrilla fighters and paid tribute to the victims of resistance against occupation.
Meetings of the Baltic Chiefs of Defence are held biannually. The following meeting is planned to take place this autumn in Lithuania.
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Capt Skomantas Povilionis, cell phone 00370 682 25 359.
