Lithuanian Defence Minister: Italy will Participate in NATO Air Policing Mission

September 17, 2012 defpro.com

Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Rasa Jukneviciene after the meeting with Italian Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola, held in Vilnius on 13 September, said that Italy promised to join the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic countries.

Italian Defence Minister pointed out that this mission is one of the flagship projects of NATO and that Italy will participate in it with their fighters.

Lithuanian and Italian Defence Ministers discussed regional security issues, joint exercises with NATO, missile defence, Afghanistan and other operations.

According to R. Jukneviciene, the exercise “Steadfast Jazz 2013” is very important for Lithuania and for the Baltic region and Poland, which is the lead in this exercise.

In the meeting the ministers also discussed about NATO Energy Security Center. G. Di Paola welcomed the initiative of Lithuania to establish NATO Energy Security Centre. Italy contributed to the establishment of the centre and appointed a high ranking officer from next year.

The ministers also discussed the mission in Afghanistan and its perspective after 2014, R. Jukneviciene introduced priorities of Lithuania's Presidency for the European Union in the field of security and defence.

The Italian Minister of Defence visits Lithuania already for the third time. The first time G. Di Paola visited Lithuania in 2006, as the Italian Armed Forces Commander, three years ago - as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, so both Lithuania and our regional security problems are well known to the Minister.

Lithuanian and Italian defense cooperation is based on Intergovernmental Agreement signed in 1999.. At present, our countries’ defence cooperation is becoming more intense both in the context of NATO exercises and bilateral cooperation.