On November 8 and 9 Baltic Chiefs of Defence, Lieutenant General Arvydas Pocius, Chief of Defence of Lithuania, Major General Raimonds Graube, Chief of Defence of Latvia, and Brigadier General Riho Terras, Chief of Defence of Estonia, will hold a meeting in Kernavė (Lithuania).
The meetings Baltic CHODs will focus on the relevant matters of the Baltic defence cooperation: contribution of the Baltic States to the operations of NATO and the European Union, joint military training events of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to be held in the Baltic States' training areas in the future, completion of the NATO Air Policing mission in the Baltic States, and the points of developing the Baltic Defence College and officer training. The top-ranking military commanders will also address the trilateral Baltic projects underway: the Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON and the Baltic Air Surveillance Network and Control System BALTNET.
Customarily, the Baltic CHODs conduct formal meetings twice a year.
In the last meeting on April 19 and 20 in Tukum, Latvia, Baltic Chiefs of Defence agreed on the future of the joint military projects, development of a cooperation vision, and also achieved a common agreement regarding further development of a critical multinational project - the Baltic Naval Squadron BALTRON. Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian naval assets assigned to the BALTRON are delegated to multinational military naval exercises and implement mine countermeasures operations in the Baltic Sea. The BALTRON also serves as a training platform prior to deployments to NATO naval units.
Spokesperson to the Lithuanian Chief of Defence Capt Skomantas Povilionis, phone no. 00370 682 25 359.
Photo from the archive of the Latvian Armed Forces.
