Baltic defense ministers in Riga discuss joint projects, support for Ukraine

VILNIUS - The defense ministers of the Baltic states met in Riga on Thursday to discuss joint projects, preparations for NATO's Washington summit, and support for Ukraine with his Latvian and Estonian counterparts.

"At the meeting, Lithuania will officially take over the chairmanship of the Baltic security and defense cooperation for 2024 from Latvia," the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a press release.

In recent years, the Baltic countries have been actively cooperating in the areas of the NATO air policing mission, naval forces, joint exercises and officer training at the Baltic Defense College, it said.

The states "also synchronize capability planning, coordinate joint procurement, hold joint exercise, training events, seminars, and also conduct cooperation between individual services".

Riga is hosting the meeting of Arvydas Anusauskas of Lithuania, Andris Spruds of Latvia and Hanno Pevkur of Estonia on Thursday and Friday.