Minister of National Defence met with US Secretary of Defence

Minister of National Defence Rasa Juknevičienė on Thursday, February 2, attended a bilateral US-Baltic Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels where US Minister of Defence Leon Panetta re-affirmed the support for the long-term NATO Air Policing mission in the Baltic States.

“The meeting took place on the US initiative. The key message delivered was that USA maintains the Article 5 of the Washington Treaty commitment through the reorganization of its military commands in Europe and foresees further implementation of defence plans”, the Minister said.

“Challenges to your security are challenges to ours”, the US Minister of Defence said.

R. Juknevičienė stated that Lithuania valued greatly partnership with the United States of America therefore it was important to hear that US involvement in the completion of defence plans, exercise and training would be maintained in the Baltic States.

In the meeting the Minister addressed concrete military projects in the region – training, exercise and infrastructure-related – that could be supported by USA.

Information warfare in the Baltic Region was also mentioned in the discussion and views were shared on the ways to addressing it.

While in Brussels R. Juknevičienė also met with Defence Minister of the Netherlands and Italy.

Picture by MOD