Chief of Defense of Lithuania Pays Official Visit to Chisinau

CHISINAU, March 27, 2018 — Minister of Defense Eugen Sturza met today with Chief of Defense of Lithuania, Lt. Gen. Jonas Vytautas Žukas who is paying an official visit to our country within March 26-28, 2018.

The two officials talked about the regional security, the defense sector’s reformation in the Republic of Moldova, participation in international peacekeeping operations, and bilateral military cooperation.

Eugen Sturza appreciated Lithuania’s support for the modernization and reformation of our country’s defense sector and mentioned that the partnership of the two countries has followed an upward trend in the last years.

During the event, the Minister of Defense decorated Lt. Gen. Jonas Vytautas Žukas with the medal “For Strengthening the Brotherhood in Arms”. The medal was offered for meritorious contribution to the development of cooperation between the two armies.

Also today, the Chief of Defense of Lithuania discussed with Brigadier Gen. Igor Cutie, National Army Commander, about the perspective of strengthening the defense cooperation on bilateral level, as well as within international organizations.

Brigadier Gen. Cutie underlined the excellent cooperation between the defense institutions of the two countries and thanked Lt. Gen. Žukas and the Lithuanian Government for the substantial support offered to the National Army of the Republic of Moldova in different important sectors, such as military education, experts’ assistance in reforming the defense sector, training within multinational exercises.

“So far, over 70 Moldovan officers and NCOs have studied in military institutions from Lithuania within specialized courses at the Military Academy from Vilnius and the Lithuanian Armed Forces School from Kaunas. Also, since 2005 to this day, 10 National Army officers graduated from the Baltic Defense College from Tartu, Estonia benefiting from scholarships offered to our officers by Lithuania”, said Brigadier Gen. Cutie.

The National Army Commander referred also to the joint training of service members from the two countries within multinational exercises in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany and other countries and specified that, in this way, the military test their interoperability and exchange the best practices used in international peacekeeping operations.

Lt. Gen. Žukas stated that the Republic of Moldova is among top priority partner countries for Lithuania. “Lithuania remains committed in supporting the Moldovan defense reform. We will keep continuing our cooperation with Moldova in the area of combat training, education, and capacity building”, said the Chief of Defense of Lithuania.

Lt. Gen. Žukas appreciated our country’s contribution to international NATO, EU and UN-led operations and encouraged the National Army to be involved more actively in the European Union Common Security and Defense Policy activities using EU CSDP Trust Fund.

The Chief of Defense of Lithuania is paying an official visit to the Republic of Moldova within March 26-28, at the invitation of his counterpart Brigadier Gen. Igor Cutie.

While in Chisinau, the military official, together with the Lithuanian delegation, will visit the Military Academy of Armed Forces “Alexandru cel Bun” and “Stefan cel Mare” Brigade and will be informed about the activity, missions, and infrastructure of these subdivisions.

The Republic of Moldova and Lithuania have been cooperating in the military sector since November, 2000.