Kasčiūnas is attending NATO Defence Ministers’ meeting dedicated to the most pressing NATO security and defence issues, particularly the new NATO defence plans, air defence and assistance to Ukraine.
In his address at the meeting, he underscored the importance of the new NATO defence plans and the need for more defence spending in the entire Alliance. Kasčiūnas underlined the issues of airspace violation, Baltic and Polish efforts to fortify their border with Russia and Belarus, which is the external NATO border, and pointed out the need for joint Alliance action and importance of NATO-EU cooperation in this context.
"We take responsibility for our security in terms of financing. However, the fundamental difference in deterrence and effective defence against Russia will only come as a result of collective Alliance-wide effort, commitment to increase defence spending and develop military capabilities. If we are looking to achieve a real change, we have to admit that 2% of GDP is already past and it is necessary to set a new NATO-wide goal to dedicate at least 3% of GDP for defence," Kasčiūnas said at NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussels.
This was the first time a NATO Defence Ministerial format included Ministers of Defence of the Indo-Pacific partners: Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea and the New Zealand.
The session with the IP4 partners addressed the growing and legitimately concerning cooperation between Russia, China and North Korea. It was underscored that NATO had to seek bilateral beneficial relationship with its Indo-Pacific partners not just bilaterally but also in multilateral formats. It was noted again that China was the principal enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Lithuanian defence minister joined his colleagues in Brussels to discuss the concept of new military capability development, attended the meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS where transformation and prospects of further involvement in Iraq and Syria were considered.
On the margins, Minister Kasčiūnas had bilateral meetings with Minister of National Defence of Poland Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Vice Minister of National Defense Kim Seon-ho.
On Friday, Kasčiūnas will chair the so-called 3+3 Defence Ministers’ meeting for Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and framework nations of the enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic states: Germany, United Kingdom, Canada.