Polish army general staff chief on formal visit in Lithuania

On Thursday, the guest is meeting with Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major General Jonas Vytautas Žukas, Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, Deputy Minister of National Defence Marijus Velička, representatives of the Ministry of National Defence and the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and will make a visit to the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence in Vilnius, the Ministry of National Defence said.

At the meeting the Polish and Lithuanian Chiefs of Defence will discuss the Lithuanian Armed Forces and perspectives of its development, information security threats, the NATO Force Integration Units (NFIUs) to be established in their respective countries, the rotating allied units of ground forces training in Lithuania, the countries’ contribution to the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) being formed, development of trilateral Brigade LITPOLUKRBRIG, military exercises scheduled in Lithuania and Poland this and perspectives of stronger integration of such events, and further assistance to Ukraine.

Defence cooperation with Poland is vital for both, security of Lithuania and the region. Lithuania has been developing intense relations with Poland in defence area since 1993.

Poland is one of the most active participants of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission in NATO. Currently Poland is conducting the mission for the sixth time – Polish soldiers are reinforcing the Italian air contingent with four MiG-29s from early January. Prior to that Poland was the lead nation of the May-August 2014 rotation of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission.