Vilnius - Maintaining energy security has become a new task for NATO, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus argued on Thursday, in reference to the current Russian-Ukrainian gas row.
Adamkus made his point at a meeting in Vilnius with Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, the president’s office told Interfax.
“In the course of the conversation, the need was stressed to strengthen NATO and confidence was expressed that the alliance remains the main guarantor of Euro-Atlantic security, which has been faced with a new challenge lately, energy security,” the office said in a press release.
“New challenges are arising for the world today – before it was able to recover from the financial crisis, Europe has found itself in a difficult energy situation,” the release quoted Adamkus as saying.
Furthermore, “the conflict that broke out between Russia and Georgia last year was reminiscent of the Cold War period and of the desire to bring back ‘zones of influence’ in Europe, while today the military action in the Gaza zone is a focus of attention,” he said, according to the release.
In discussing the situation in Afghanistan, the Lithuanian president said his country “is not going to reduce its contribution to the work of restoring peace in that country.”
The aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO and the European Union also came up at the meeting. Adamkus and MacKay discussed cooperation between their countries in supporting them, and the Lithuanian leader “once again positively assessed the promise on NATO membership prospects for those two countries that the alliance made late last year,” the release said.
