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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis expressed his acknowledgements to Deputy Director of the Ministry’s Economic Security Policy Department Gitana Grigaitytė and Counsellor of the Department Rasa Adomaitienė for their substantial contribution towards ensuring shipment of the cargo with supplies to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) through Lithuania.

“Today, I expressed my acknowledgements to a couple of Ministry’s diplomats for their special contribution towards ensuring shipment of the U.S. cargo to International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations through Lithuania. This achievement will benefit Lithuania both economically and politically. When expressing acknowledgments, I would like to symbolically emphasize my appreciation of the significant contribution of Lithuanian diplomats who perform their daily tasks and without whom we would have never reached this strategic goal,” Minister of Foreign Affairs A.Ažubalis said.

On 25 November, during the meeting with the commander of the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) Gen. Duncan McNabb, who is on a visit to Lithuania, the Minister reiterated that he valued the possibility for Lithuania to further contribute to the international security efforts by participating in International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations and transporting the shipment of the cargo through the Lithuanian Port of Klaipėda to Afghanistan. The port is used as an entry into the Northern Distribution Network (NDN). 

Last week, the U.S. Administration decided to ship the ISAF cargo to Afghanistan, using the Port of Klaipėda and Lithuania’s transit potential.

In order to supply troops with the necessary equipment, food, accommodation and other things, countries participating in the NATO-led ISAF operation in Afghanistan forward large volumes of non-military cargo by sea and by rail to Afghanistan every year.

The Northern Distribution Network (NDN) is a series of logistical arrangements connecting the Baltic ports with Afghanistan by railway. In recent years, the cargo of German ISAF operations was transported through Lithuania. The United Kingdom has also completed a trial shipment.