The meeting took place at Lielvārde air force base Major General Leonīds Kalniņš, Chief of Defense of the Republic of Latvia hosted Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas, Chief of Defense of the Republic of Lithuania and General Riho Terras, Commander of the Defense Forces of the Republic of Estonia.
The aim of the meeting was to promote coordination of armed force operations and development plans in all the Baltic countries. The Chiefs of Defence also discussed ways of improving the military training in all three Baltic countries and enhancing defense education cooperation, including joint training and planning of military exercises rolled out together with NATO multinational battle groups deployed in the region.
“I am delighted with successful cooperation between Baltic countries and development of defense capabilities, as well as the way each of our countries grows its defence capabilities, to be able to protect ourselves”, said Kalniņš of the meeting.
“The meeting produced a number of valuable agreements on further cooperation and development of defense capabilities, and I am confident that these initiatives will be implemented within agreed deadlines,” he said, without specifying the details of the agreements.
Sargs.lv: Meeting of Baltic Chiefs of Defence in Latvia focuses on recent developments in defence sector: https://t.co/48rUwXQA5S pic.twitter.com/YbOU4uZVJy
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) April 21, 2017
Kalniņš also pointed out that NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence shows its determination and unity: “We are grateful for the support provided by our Allies and must continue focusing on further upgrading of our national defense capability. We can ensure the support of others only by proving that our capabilities are rock solid,” he said.
According to Sargs.lv "all three Baltic countries are ready to engage in combat at any time, but will by no means attempt to escalate the situation in the region."
