On May 1 Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces General Jonathan H. Vance and a delegation arrived in Lithuania for the first ever formal visit at the invitation of Chief of Defence of Lithuania. The visit is intended to strengthen the transatlantic bonds and military cooperation between Canada and its Eastern European allies - the Baltic states.
On May 2 the guest will be given a formal welcome in front of the Ministry of National Defence and meet with Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Jonas Vytautas Žukas, and other representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
The Lithuanian side of the meeting will brief the guest on the capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and plans for their development, international exercises planned to take place in Lithuania, and analysis of the informational environment.
In the afternoon both Chiefs of Defence will visit Antakalnis Cemetery where GenJ. H. Vance will lay a flower tribute at the memorial to the Lithuanian soldiers fallen in defence of our Motherland. Later a visit to the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU), meetings with its Commander Col Jakob Søgård Larsen and Canadian officers, and a briefing on NFIU activities will follow.
Military cooperation of Lithuania and Canada
Canada is a reliable partner of Lithuania and European Union countries in security area and Lithuania's ally in the NATO alliance. Lithuanian and Canadian military personnel were deployed together to various NATO and EU military missions (in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and Kosovo). Since 2015 soldiers of both countries have been taking part in the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.
Canada joined the NATO Assurance Measures in 2014 and is a part of the Reassurance operation in the Central and the Eastern Europe, including the Baltic region, therefore Canadian air force, navy and land force capabilities are deployed and trained there.
A Royal Canadian Air Force Detachment with four fighter aircraft carried out the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states from the Lithuanian Air Force Base in Šiauliai in 2014. The Royal Canadian Navy has been taking part in the explosive ordnance disposal operation in the Baltic Sea, Baltic Spirit, annually since 2014. On 19 June 2017 a Canadian military contingent was deployed to Latvia to lead the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group until present.
Since 2014 Canada has been taking part actively in different international exercises in Lithuania: Iron Wolf, Iron Sword, Hunter, Saber Strike, Steadfast Cobalt, while support by sending instructors and planners has been given to Exercise Maple Arch, held in Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, since 1999. The Exercise strengthens interaction among units of the trilateral Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian Brigade LITPOLUKRBRIG and enhances Ukraine's ability to act in line with NATO procedures.
Canada also provided financial support to the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence in Vilnius, three Canadian officers are serving in the NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius and one in the Baltic Defence College in Tartu (Estonia).
Roughly 250 military and civilians from Lithuania have studied at various long-term qualification improvement courses under the Military Training Assistance programme (MTAP) in Canada by now since 1994.
Photo: Courtesy of the Ministry of National Defence of Canada
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Maj Mindaugas Neimontas
+370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
