Distinguished guests from Latvia and Lithuania at BALTDEFCOL

On Tuesday 18 Oct the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) Higher Command Studies Course (HCSC) and staff had the pleasure to listen to lectures by the Latvian Chief of Defence, MG Raimonds Graube, and the Director General for Capabilities and Armaments of Lithuanian Armed Forces, BG Almantas Leika. Both guests were welcomed by the BALTDEFCOL Commandant and the national representatives of the countries at BALTDEFCOL.

The first to give a lecture to the HCSC students and college staff was BG Leika who talked about Defence Transformation in Lithuania. In his lecture, BG Leika focused on the ongoing transformation of the Lithuanian Defence Forces. The discussion with the HCSC students brought up a number of crucial issues that Lithuania and two other Baltic states have to consider in their security and defence development. He also stressed that growing uncertainty in the security environment combined with scarce resources requires smart and timely actions from the defence establishments. The second distinguished Guest Lecturer of the day, MG Graube, talked about Defence Transformation in Latvia. He emphasized the need for more integrated approach in the security and defence systems in the Baltic States and stressed the need for smart choices in defence sphere in the time of limited resources.