“The new Government has a particularly ambitious programme for international defence cooperation and cybersecurity, therefore I invited M. Abukevičius to join our political team on the basis of his substantial experience of working with the Ministry of National Defence,” Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas says.
Before the present appointment M. Abukevičius was the Senior Advisor at the Cyber Security and Information Technology Policy Group of the Ministry of National Defence responsible for projects of international cooperation in the area of cybersecurity and initiatives of bilateral cooperation with the U.S.
When working as Defence Advisor and Cyber Attaché at the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU in 2015 – 2019 M. Abukevičius contributed to the shaping of the Lithuanian stance on the EU security and defence and cybersecurity issues, and was one of the negotiators concerning the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and European Defence Fund establishment and development of EU legislation for the area of cyber security. He is also one of the initiators and developers of the Lithuanian-led PESCO Cyber Rapid Response Teams project.
M. Abukevičius started working at the Ministry of National Defence in 2004. In 2004 – 2014 he held responsibilities concerning EU Common Security and Defence Policy and EU affairs coordination, and was a member of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU team.
M. Abukevičius holds a BA and a MA received at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University, also studied in Berlin and Geneva.
Minister of National Defence A. Anušauskas is planned to have three Vice Ministers on his team. The rest of the team will join the work as soon as corresponding authorities finish the checks.
