“I very much welcome this historic decision on NATO enhanced forward presence. The battalion-sized force deployed in Lithuania will stand ready to respond to aggression from the outside and will effectively contribute to our national defence. We look forward to the approval of the decision at the NATO Summit in Warsaw which we primarily see as a green light for enhanced NATO presence in our region,” Minister J.Olekas said.
At the NATO Defence Ministers meeting Minister J.Olekas backed the specific commitment of NATO allies to reach 2% of GDP defence spending as soon as possible and underlined that Lithuania is estimated to reach the goal by 2018.
In Baltic-Visegrad Defence Ministers session Minister J.Olekas thanked the Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) for their decisions to deploy rotational forces to the Baltic region.
