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On November 16 Minister of National Defence Rasa Juknevičienė discussed issues of defence financing and undergoing defence reforms with her colleagues in the Nordic-Baltic Defence Ministers’ meeting in Orebro (Sweden).

According to R. Juknevičienė, cooperation with the EU and USA is a key priority also drawn into the National Security Strategy debated in the Seimas at the moment.
 
“We seek to maintain US presence in our region and are ready to improve bilaterally beneficial cooperation,” Defence Minister said.
 
Alexander Vershbow, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, said that NATO members will have to take the responsibility for defence financing due to the planned 450m USD decrease in US defence spending in the coming 10 years as well as a switch in defence policy priorities.
 
Apart from that, the Ministers shared information about ongoing defence reforms in their respective countries. R. Juknevičienė commented on the Law on National Service adopted this year and the need to train a reserve. “After the accession to NATO we focused on international operations and marginalized national defence forces. However, in the recent years it has changed, we seek to restore the bond between the armed forces and the society and teach as many youth as possible military skills”, Minister said. The economic crisis which began in 2008 forced us to cut down the budget of the National Defence System, but according to Minister, even with smaller financial resources the Lithuanian Armed Forces managed to live through and fulfill its objectives.
 
Representatives of the United Kingdom and Germany are also in Sweden, bilateral ministerial meetings take place, the future of defence and security policy is discussed in the context of emerging security challenges. Defence Ministers also shared their views on the generation and operation of collective capabilities, as a part of Smart Defence.
 
“Lithuania is a consistent supporter of closer cooperation in capability development. We participate in trilateral projects of the Baltic States, collective initiatives of NATO and the EU”, Defence Minister said. She highlighted that the Nordic Defence Ministers Group could coordinate, agree positions and make decisions on regarding coordination of NATO and the EU’s capability projects and practical applicability.
 
The Minister also discussed thoroughly security situation in the neighboring countries – Russia and Belarus.

WE NEED TO DEEPEN DEFENCE COOPERATION, MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENCE SAYS

Minister of National Defence Rasa Juknevičienė attended the Baltic Defence Ministers’ meeting which was held on November 15 and 16 in Orebro (Sweden) and discussed with her counterparts further defence cooperation, energy security, Nordic-Baltic initiative, etc.

“We seek closer and more concrete practical cooperation with Nordic countries in defence sector, so in my opinion, armed forces of our countries need as many joint training events as possible to increase interoperability”, Minister of National Defence said.

She also stressed that Lithuania maintains a positive view of joint capabilities, such as the EU Nordic Battle Group.

According to the Minister, joint efforts of the countries in cyber defence and energy security sectors are particularly important.

When addressing energy security problems in Lithuania, R. Juknevičienė stressed that energy security is a priority of Lithuania’s Government. “We pay a particular attention to regional cooperation – electricity bridges with Sweden and Poland, nuclear energy plant, etc. Energy independence is linked to influences on the political system, and the media makes fight with non-transparency harder”, R. Juknevičienė said. According to her, if we want to enhance energy security in military sector, we should ensure exchange of the successful practice regarding energy efficiency of the national armed forces, application of innovations, and reduction of costs of operations.

According to the Minister of Defence there are till many unused possibilities to strengthen the military energy security dimension in the EU through the fields of scientific fellowship, military exercise, more efficient operations, etc.

The Ministers also discussed Estonia’s advice on cyber defence development.

“Lithuania values Estonia’s initiative to improve the EU’s cyber defence capabilities and proposes to analyze Estonia’s offers in a variety of contexts”, said R. Juknevičienė in the meeting. “It should also come handy for the development of our national cyber defence capabilities.”

Results of Lithuania’s Chairmanship of the Nordic-Baltic Initiative were also presented in the meeting. According to the Lithuanian Minister of National Defence, Lithuania has set its priorities on support to Georgia and Ukraine. The main focus in Georgia’s case was paid to public relations, personnel and doctrine development. Under the NATO professional development programme to Georgia several consultations and work seminars were organised, valuable experience shared and practical offers rendered on improving work activities. Ukraine offered to develop cooperation in supporting public relation sector, decisions were approved on launching collaboration in environmental protection, regional cooperation and internal audit.

Cooperation with Ukraine is developed under the programme of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defence Reform.

The Nordic-Baltic Defence Ministers meeting is an annual event.