On February 4 representatives of the Baltic nations' land force staffs gathered in Vilnius for a work meeting, also known as staff talks. The event provided an opportunity to discuss the Baltic land forces' trilateral cooperation plan for 2014-2015 as well as to prepare for the annual Baltic Land Force Commanders' meeting that Vilnius will host this March.
The meeting also specified some of the joint events mapped out in the trilateral cooperation plan for 2014-2015 and discussed readiness of the Baltic contingents for the standby in the NATO Response Force (NRF) in 2016.
"To my mind, the format the cooperation of the Baltic nations' Land Forces has been implemented in over the latter several years is highly effective as it ensures both, efficient employment of military resources available and intense exchange of experience. We are not arranging additional or new international training events but simply restructure the already scheduled national military training events so that military personnel from other Baltic countries would also be able to attend," Lieutenant Colonel Eligijus Senulis, Deputy Chief of Staff for planning on behalf of the Staff of the Lithuanian Land Force.
The first long-term cooperation plan of the Baltic Land Forces (for the period of 2012-2014) was signed on March 2, 2012, in Vilnius. It was endorsed to ensure more coordination of the trilateral cooperation of the Baltic land force as theretofore it had been carried out on the basis of separate schedules and through participation in various trilateral and multilateral projects. The long-term service-level cooperation plans are updated on an annual basis at the meetings of the Baltic Land Force Commanders and Staffs. The Land Force Commanders of the Baltic States customarily hold meetings for that purpose in March each year.
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The function of the Lithuanian Land Force is to carry out military defence and protection of the land territory of the Republic of Lithuania. The service is tasked with training military units for the armed defence of the territory of the Republic of Lithuania and taking part in international operations with an aim of ensuring territorial unity of the Republic of Lithuania and fulfilment of its international commitments.
CPT Mindaugas Neimontas, PAO for the Lithuanian Land Force, mobile phone no. 00370 640 45380
