From Copenhagen, Senior Course 120 moved on to Vilnius for its second stop on the course’s third and final Field Study. On the morning of Thursday 14th June the course gathered in the Main Briefing Room of the Lithuanian Military Academy where they were met by the Commandant, Colonel Eugenijus Vosylius. The Colonel welcomed us to Lithuania and, after explaining a little of the history and current activities of the Academy, introduced the first of our briefers.
The first presentation of the morning was by Dr Vaidotas Urbelis who is the Director of the Euro Atlantic Co-operation Department in the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence. He explained that Lithuania has two principal security perspectives, one is centred on northern Europe and the other one looks more to the East. He also covered Lithuania’s SMART Defence initiatives and their on-going contribution to the ISAF mission. His presentation was immediately followed by a lively question and answer session.
Other lecturers included Vice Minister Evaldas Ignatavicius from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lt Col Dalius Polekauskas from the Capability Planning Department in the Ministry of Defence and Colonel Romualdas Petkevicius from the Lithuanian Energy Security Centre, which is hoping to become a NATO Centre of Excellence by the end of this year. All lecturers were hugely well received and each presentation was followed by a lengthy question and answer session.
More about the Field Study:
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN