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On 6 June, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius welcomed members of NATO’s Atlantic Policy Advisory Group, who were visiting Vilnius, and stressed that a strong and credible Alliance was in the interests of all of us and that it was the right time to talk about what NATO would look like in the future. “Our mission in Afghanistan will end by 2014; therefore, we already have to think about how to keep NATO strong, adapting to changing situations and at the same time ready to guarantee the security of its member countries,” Linkevičius said.

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister also noted that this meeting took place right before the beginning of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the 10th anniversary of Lithuania’s membership in NATO next year.

On 6 June, participants of the meeting also watched the international military exercise Saber Strike 2013 in Pabradė. The guests met with the participants of the exercise from Lithuania, Latvia, the U.S. and Finland, and discussed the importance of the Alliance’s joint exercise with partner countries.

The meeting that took place on 5-7 June was an annual NATO event to discuss some key issues related to security policy today and items on NATO’s agenda. In Vilnius, 49 representatives from the member countries of the Alliance discussed completion of the mission in Afghanistan, maintaining NATO’s capacity, partnerships and enlargement policy.