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<TITLE>Lithuanian Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius...Partnership for
Peace in the Baltic Region</TITLE>
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<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+4">Partnership for Peace in
the Baltic Region </FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+3">Lithuanian Minister of
Defense Linas Linkevicius</FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">In discussing the Baltic States'
concerns, I will present the problems we are facing and the practical
measures we are taking to solve them. The creation of the Baltic Council
of Ministers, which involves all national institutions including defense
and security, is an important step toward the resolution of many of these
problems. I would like to underline the importance of establishing such an
executive level where not only declarations, but decisions, can be made
and exercised.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">DEFENSE PRIORITIES</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">One of the highest priorities on
our agenda is to reduce defense expenditures, given the limited economic
resources of our small states. We have started to do this with the
creation of a joint air space control system. This single system is much
less expensive to operate than three national systems. We are also
coordinating our border control operations into a single system that I
will discuss later on.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">It is very difficult at the
present time to convince the peoples, politicians, and parliaments of the
Baltic States to raise enough funding for the development of defense
structures because our social, medical care, and pensioner needs are more
pressing. Yet we must work on defense today because it may be too
difficult and too expensive to do so tomorrow. Unless concrete
arrangements can be made now, our defenses will remain inadequate. For
this reason, we have formed groups to work on defense problems. One group,
which is being coordinated by Estonia, is developing a technical and
operational standardization program. It is working on the adoption of
Western standards for weaponry, communications, training systems,
structure compatibility, and the shaping of a new mentality toward
defense. Another group, coordinated by Lithuania, is working on
inter-regional information and communication in consultation with our
Nordic partners. This cooperation has great potential. Indeed, while the
Baltic region and the Nordic region are referred to as separate entities,
we share the same Baltic Sea and European security problems.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">We have chosen to integrate with
Western security structures because it is clearly the only way to
guarantee our future security and the democratic development of our state.
This is why we have applied for NATO membership and why our President
signed the Partnership for Peace Framework Document in Brussels. I was
asked recently if Lithuania felt threatened by enemies and, more
specifically, if we feared Russia. We do not maintain a list of enemies.
We believe that only instability can become a major threat to a country
and this is why we have chosen a stable path to development. In this
respect, the Partnership for Peace initiative is very useful because it
includes Russia and tends to destroy all obstacles that were hindering
peace during the Cold War.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">We maintain a dialogue with all
our neighbors, including Russia. Recently, we signed an important
political agreement with Poland, which opens the door to tighter
cooperation in the defense field. We are keeping a dialogue with
Byelorussia, although the delimitation of our new common border, which is
more than 700 km long and must be done lake by lake, railway station by
railway station, is causing difficulties. A recent visit by Byelorussia's
Defense Minister led to fruitful discussions, and our two countries know
that they do not need to rush into signing a treaty immediately. Our
traditional good relations with the Kaliningrad region of Russia are
continuing. We feel that issues such as military transit can be solved
through discussions and with the support of the international community
since this regional problem is also a Baltic Sea security problem.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">REGIONAL COOPERATION
PRIORITIES</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Now that we are Associate
Partners in the WEU and applying for membership in NATO, I would like to
discuss our priorities concerning regional cooperation. It is clear that
we must utilize trilateral Baltic operations to cooperate in the Baltic
Sea area. We must also integrate as quickly as possible with European
security institutions. We may seem impatient, but young democracies are
impatient, particularly for understandable reasons of stability.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">We have already received very
helpful cooperation from Nordic countries, in particular from Denmark and
Sweden. We are also running productive cooperation programs with Great
Britain and Germany. Our contacts with the United States are strong and
involve consultations with U.S. representatives, especially through
meetings of military teams. We collaborate in the development of defense
doctrines, security concepts, and basic legal documents toward our future
security system. Another very important concrete program is the Baltic
Battalion program in which one company from each Baltic state is to
undertake a 15-month training period with Nordic countries for the purpose
of participating in specific peacekeeping missions. For example, after
joint exercises with Danish soldiers, a Lithuanian platoon will join a
Danish battalion in mid-August 94 for a peacekeeping mission in Croatia.
Upon completion of their mission, these troops will return home and train
their colleagues in actual peacekeeping--what peacekeeping is, what its
functions and requirements are. We also intend to participate in all
Partnership for Peace exercises, in particular the PFP exercises in the
Netherlands at the end of August 1994. This participation may be symbolic
at first, but it will be a beginning that will make cooperation easier
over time.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">A major obstacle to cooperation
with other countries, however, is our lack of proficiency in other
languages. Too often, we must send to workshops and seminars
representatives who are not particularly versed in the subject under study
solely because they know a little English or German. We are trying to
solve that problem by starting language training in our schools at an
early age. We also plan to provide language training for our conscripts
during their service in the army.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">CONCLUSION</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">In concluding, I would like to
emphasize that now is the time to choose our priorities, determine the
programs we can run by ourselves, and, on the other hand, identify those
programs that require support from our Western Partners. This cooperation,
which may involve many countries (Nordic countries, Great Britain, the
United States, Germany, and others), will be an investment both in our
future defense and security and in the future security environment of
Europe. For the moment, we cannot cooperate on an equal basis since we are
the ones receiving support. Later, however, we will be ready to cooperate
equally since we will have benefited from all this assistance. Indeed,
Lithuania is most grateful for the great contributions Western countries
have made to its knowledge, its development of a defense system, and its
future.</FONT></FONT> </P>
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