The officials discussed bilateral cooperation, security situation in the Eastern and Southern neighborhoods, NATO and EU issues. M. Abukevičius underscored that the security situation in our region required persistent attention and allied presence.
Vice Minister proposed strengthening cooperation in the area of operations and join the efforts to a greater extent in such areas as response to hybrid threats, cyber security, and efforts to counter disinformation. M. Abukevičius also stressed the necessity of assistance to the Eastern neighbors, particularly Ukraine, and more EU involvement in the area.
“The European Union needs to take an active role in ensuring Ukraine’s security. Ukraine is an element of the European security architecture. The EU needs to act and provide security, not just respond to threats,” Vice Minister said at the meeting with A. Adam.
Vice Minister thanked France for contributing to the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group and the Air Policing Mission. HE also underscore that a more active participation of French forces in exercises in Lithuania, especially together with critical capabilities, would add strength to deterrence and increase interoperability of Lithuanian and French forces.
The officials also discussed the potential Lithuanian-French cooperation on ensuring election security. This area of cooperation was identified in a joint declaration on protection of democracy of the Presidents of France and Lithuania and the Prime Minister of Latvia signed in September 2020. M. Abukevičius proposed using Cyber Rapid Response Teams that had been already fully developed and reached full operational capability. Vice Minister pointed out that not only cyber but also disinformation aspects had to be taken into account as they most often were used together.
Vice Minister and Director General for International Relations and Strategy of the Ministry for the Armed Forces A. Guitton addressed bilateral cooperation of Lithuania and France, and further actions and areas to strengthen and expand it. Another topic discussed was the security challenges on the eastern borders of NATO, representatives of the Ministry for the Armed Forces of France presented their priorities of the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Vice Minister M. Abukevičius proposed including into the agenda the point of enhanced EU assistance to Eastern partnerships, especially Ukraine.
Tuesday Vice Minister M. Abukevičius will attend and speak at Paris Cyber Week Conference, and meet with members of the National Assembly and cybersecurity experts.
