The Armenian delegation was accompanied by Mr Harri Lahtein, Defence Policy Adviser and Ms Eve Vungo, Head of International Relations Section from the Ministry of Defence of Estonia and welcomed to BALTDEFCOL by the Commandant BrigGen Algis Vaiceliunas; Head of Department of Political Studies and Officership, Capt (N) Eero Karhuvaara and Chief of Staff, LtCol Peeter Läns.

It was the third time for BrigGen Vaiceliunas to meet Mr Serzh Sargsyan - first time as the Commandant of the Lithuanian Military Academy, second time accompanying the Minister of Defence of Lithuania during his visit to Armenia and now welcoming the Minister of Defence of Armenia in Estonia as the Commandant of BALTDEFCOL. The character of this meeting was rather friendly due to the fact that the Minister and the Commandant knew each other before. BrigGen Vaiceliunas gave the Armenian delegation a briefing about the college and its courses and expressed his appreciation for selecting an excellent Armenian student for the JCGSC. The Minister was very interested in the infrastructure and budget of BALTDEFCOL, number of students at JCGSC and the costs for educating an officer at BALTDEFCOL. The briefing was followed by lunch, hosted by the Commandant of BALTDEFCOL, where they continued discussing the civil-military relations and the functions of a defence minister and chief of defence in general.

Photo by Rain Sirendi Text by Triinu Rizijs