The Baltic Ministers of Defence signed during the meeting today in Riga two important documents - the Joint Communiqué of the Ministerial Committee and the 2003-year-plan of co-operation between the three Ministries of Defence and the Defence Forces. The Joint Communiqué defines joint positions in a number of key issues shaping the future co-operation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In the Communiqué the Ministers declare that they are very pleased with the progress so far in the NATO direction and confirm their firm decision to continue close co-operation till the finalization of the
The participants will summarize the results of the Prague Summit meeting and discuss topics connected with upcoming NATO membership and Baltic military co-operation projects.
The Estonian delegation will lead the working session on BALBAT status and future perspectives and give an overview of the British-Baltic-Georgian seminar in Estonia. Estonia will also lead the discussions on the status of the development of Standing Arrangement on Exchange of Information on Crisis Management; and Plan of Co-operation between the ministries of Defence and the Defence Forces of the three Baltic countries.
The Latvian delegation will cover the following discussion topics: Development of joint special capabilities of the National Armed Forces after the Prague Summit; and Development of BALTCCIS project, decision on the location of the BALTCCIS central server.
Lithuania is responsible for the working session - Review of Baltic co-operation in the light of the upcoming NATO membership.
On Tuesday the ministers will sign the Joint Communique’ of the Ministerial Committee which will summarize the main discussion topics of the meeting and formulate the joint stand of the countries regarding the key issues of the future co-operation. The ministers will also sign the Plan of Co-operation between the Ministries of Defence and the Defence Forces of the Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for the year 2003. The plan determines the timeframes, topics and participants of the meetings, also responsibilities in connection with the meetings.