Baltic military academies sign cooperation agreement

TALLINN - The military academies of the Baltic states signed a cooperation agreement in the field of education and research at the Estonian Military Academy in Tartu on Wednesday.

The cooperation agreement provides for mobility for both academic staff and students. It also offers the opportunity to jointly organize various seminars, conferences, workshops, and allows for the exchange of research results, military spokespeople told BNS.

As part of the cooperation agreement, every spring the defense academies of the three Baltic countries will agree on the cooperation activities for the next academic year. In the current academic year, the collaboration will focus on air and naval forces at the master's level, where students of the Estonian Military Academy will complete a part of the curriculum at both the Lithuanian and Latvian military academies.

Commandant of the Military Academy Brig. Gen. Vahur Karus said that the agreements are an important step in consolidating and further developing cooperation in education and research between the military academies of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

"Both Latvia and Lithuania play an irreplaceable role in the implementation of our master's program as they offer specialized naval and air force modules. In other words, they create the content within the curriculum for naval and air force master's studies," he said.

Karus added that it is clear that education cooperation between the three Baltic countries is essential and even imperative, given the geographical context.

"It is important for students to get to know each other and practice cooperation already during their studies. This is a matter of quality of our future officer and non-commissioned officer corps. The agreements enable us to focus and plan specific future actions," he noted.

In addition to Karus, Wednesday's meeting was also attended by commandant of the National Defense Academy of Latvia Maris Utinans and commandant of the General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania Almantas Leika. In addition to signing the cooperation agreement, the meeting also discussed current topics and challenges in the military academies and introduced the latest developments in their respective institutions.