The agreement was signed by Director of NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence Romualdas Petkevicius and Rector of Vilnius University Juras Banys.
"I hope that the agreement will create the opportunities and will encourage creating the joint projects, exchanging the experts and investigators and organizing the joint seminars and trainings. Moreover, the agreement will also create the opportunity for students of Vilnius University to do their practice in NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence," said Petkevicius.
This is the first agreement between the NATO ENSEC COE and a Lithuanian institution of higher education. The NATO ENSEC COE foresees signing similar treaties with other institutions concerned with scientific research and analysis in the future too.
The NATO ENSEC COE in Vilnius was established in July 2012 by signing of the relevant documentation at the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Norfolk, VA, by representatives of the participating nations. The accreditation procedures granting the Energy Security Centre in Vilnius the status of an international military organisation – NATO Centre of Excellence – were completed in October 2012.
Alongside Lithuania as the framework nation there are 5 NATO ENSEC COE sponsoring and contracting nations: Estonia, Italy, Latvia, France and Turkey. NATO ENSEC COE activities are headed by Lithuania's representative Colonel Romualdas Petkevicius.