Foreign affairs and security experts discussed 2014 NATO Summit decisions in Lithuania’s embassy in Stockholm

The experts on foreign, security and defence issues from Sweden and other countries, the representatives from defence research institutes, Swedish foreign ministry and diplomats from other countries attended the event. Among them – former member of Riksdag, former Chair of SIPRI Board Göran Lennmarker, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Chair of EHU Governing Board Daniel Tarchys, Chairman of Swedish Atlantic Council Michael Sahlin, Swedish foreign and security experts Anna Wieslander, Magnus Ekengren and Gunilla Herolf, and many others.

Main speakers of the event were British Ambassador Paul Johnston and Lithuanian Ambassador Eitvydas Bajarūnas. Event was chaired by Acting Director of SIPRI Ian Anthony.

“In Cardiff NATO showed that it’s ready to withstand current security threats and adapt to the new reality. A strong NATO Readiness Action Plan is the right response which reinforced the Alliance’s collective defence. It makes NATO’s defence stronger and quicker to react to any threat, whenever it may come from. The rapid change of the security situation in the Baltic Sea region requires to foster mobilization of our forces and encourages us to be ready to respond to any unexpected threats”, Bajarūnas said to the attendees of the event.

Ambassador Johnston made overview of other important decisions made by NATO in Cardiff which will allow to address the new security challenges and will help to adjust to a new security environment. Decisions adopted in Cardiff needed now to be implemented.

The event was organized together with Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). SIPRI – an independent international institute in Sweden, dedicated to research conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established on 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open source to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.

Recently the Embassy of Lithuania has organized a sequence of lectures and meetings with the representatives of the Swedish academic and non-governmental organizations to discuss NATO and Baltic region security issues.

In capacity of NATO Contact Point Embassy 2013-2014, the Embassy of Lithuania in Sweden is responsible for providing and spreading the information about the Alliance, organizing the events and giving the support for the Alliance country-partner Sweden for accomplishing the variety of NATO programs and projects.