Meanwhile, Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Juozas Olekas offers the German armed forces to consider using Lithuania's transit infrastructure and railway lines for the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense has said in a statement after the meeting on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Olekas and Wieker discussed their countries' participation in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan and plans to end the operation in 2014 as well as the participation of German and Lithuanian troops in the EU-led antipiracy operation near the shores of Somali and the training mission in Mali.
The Lithuanian national defense minister also thanked Germany for its great contribution to the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic states after Germany has sent its troops to the mission five times.
Chief of Defense of Lithuania Lieutenant General Arvydas Pocius, who also attended the meeting, introduced the German chief of defense to the outlook of the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic states and also discussed the participation of Lithuanian and German troops in international exercises in the region.
The chiefs of defense also talked about possibilities to buy arms and equipment from Germany, the statement said.
The Lithuanian chief of defense also told his German counterpart about activities of the Vilnius-based the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence which started its activities this year.
The German chief of defense came to Lithuanian at the invitation of the Lithuanian chief of defense. Pocius visited Germany in November 2012.
Cooperation between Lithuania’s and Germany’s armed forces is based on a defense cooperation agreement signed in 1994 and updated in 2010. Lithuania collaborates with various institutions of Germany’s defense system in a spectrum of areas at different levels. Over 300 Lithuanian military have graduated from German military education institutions since 1994. German air contingents and fighter-jets have been deployed to the Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force to conduct the Baltic Air Policing mission for five times. Last visit by a German Chief of Defense was conducted in Lithuania in 2008.
