Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius received a letter from North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, thanking the Minister for the warm hospitality in Vilnius and for discussions on a variety of topics. During the meeting with the Secretary General, Lithuanian Foreign Minister presented foreign policy priorities of the new Government of Lithuania.

In the letter, the Secretary General welcomes the broad-based agreement in the Seimas to gradually increase defence spending, with the aim of meeting the 2 per cent of GDP benchmark.

Rasmussen also hailed Lithuania’s wish to enhance cooperation between the European Union and NATO during Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. “I also welcomed our discussions on NATO-EU relations and the need to ensure sure proper coordination between the two organisations, and your role in the light of the upcoming Lithuanian EU Presidency.

During his visit to Lithuania, Rasmussen also met President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, and Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas. He visited the Šiauliai air base, which hosts the Allied deployments in support of NATO’s air policing mission in the Baltic States. The NATO Secretary General paid a visit to Vilnius on 1 February 2013. This was Rasmussen’s 3rd visit to Lithuania.