Visit by Chiefs of Defence of the Baltic States

On 24th of April, the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) was very honoured to host General Riho Terras, Chief of Defence of Estonia, Lieutenant General Leonīds Kalniņš, Chief of Defence of Latvia, and Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas, Chief of National Defence of Lithuania. The high-level guests were welcomed by the Commandant of BALTDEFCOL, Major General Andis Dilāns accompanied by the members of College Management Group.

The visit started with a briefing on BALTDEFCOL’s history, vision and mission, academic activities and future developments to LTG Žukas to whom it was the first time visiting the BALTDEFCOL.

Afterwards, the Chiefs of Defence (CHODs) participated in a panel discussion with the students of the Higher Command Studies Course (HCSC) 2018 on national defence capabilities development priorities. It was followed by a very interactive session of questions from the students and faculty. The panel was extremely beneficial for the students of the HCSC who are anticipated to create proposals to boost the cooperation and integration of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland with NATO’s extended deterrence mechanisms as part of Module 6 ‘Enhancing Deterrence through Cooperation’.

The official part of the visit was concluded by MG Dilāns’ meeting with the three CHODs in order to discuss current and future developments of the College.