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On 29 March, the flag of the Alliance was raised at the entrance to the building of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 8th anniversary of Lithuania’s NATO membership.

According to Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis, this begins a new tradition of raising the flag to mark Lithuania’s NATO membership every year.

“We can rejoice today that at that time the Lithuanian people rallied and seized this historically unique chance to integrate into the western geopolitical space. We only have to take a look at what is happening in Georgia, Ukraine or Moldova, in order to understand that it cannot be implied as self-understandable. It was a huge breakthrough and Lithuania and its friends put so many efforts to achieve it,” the Minister said.

Lithuania has been a NATO member for eight years already. According to Ažubalis, this period was unique in Lithuania’s history, because “the most powerful military alliance in history” guarantees Lithuania’s sovereignty and security.

“Lithuanian public support for accession to NATO was and still is very high. The Alliance provides a guarantee to Lithuania, along with a positive evaluation of the country and the recognition that Lithuania is capable of safeguarding and protecting values of the transatlantic community,” the Minister said.

However, according to him, these guarantees are not executed as a matter of course - all the NATO allies, including Lithuania, should jointly and in solidarity contribute to providing them.

“As a reliable and responsible ally, Lithuania must do its homework: take care of the country’s defence and ensure that Lithuania makes an appropriate contribution to the Allied effort in extending the area of peace and stability in Europe and beyond. Amongst many quotes attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte one sounds especially eloquent, “The people who don’t want to feed their own army will have to feed a foreign one.” Therefore, the state must invest in its own security, because this is the only way to foster a supportive environment for a successful development of the country and its society,” Ažubalis said.

On 29 March 2004, Lithuania became a NATO member after having deposited its instruments of treaty ratification in Washington, DC. The Belgian Air Force began to protect the Baltic airspace on the same day.