By Petras Vaida (December 6, 2011)
In Vilnius, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have discussed regional security issues during the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council.
According to the president, the number of armaments and intensive military training has been increasing in the vicinity of Lithuania and other Baltic States, therefore, the presence and visibility of NATO now is of extremely high importance, reports LETA/ELTA.
Grybauskaite stressed that at present, preparing for NATO Summit in Chicago, it is very important to keep the same priorities, such as NATO’s capacities to defend all its member-states and independent development of NATO’s defence systems such as antimissile defence. Finally, in order to ensure efficient defence, the air-policing mission in the Baltic States should become a permanent one.
Lithuania not only seeks to be defended by NATO but also contributes to the increased force capacity by sending Lithuanian soldiers to take part in different international operations. This year, the Lithuania-based Energy Security Centre was established, it should shortly become a NATO centre of excellence.
