From Lithuania...

NATO Update...

Sources used for this article were the ELTA News Agency and the Baltic News Service.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 24 and 25 did not yield Lithuania’s invitation into the alliance but, it did confirm its obligation to observe the 18th article of NATO, which warranted openness of the organization for the next summit in 2002.

The final statement of the Summit said that NATO "acknowledges and welcomes regular efforts and advancements achieved by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania" after 1997 NATO summit in Madrid. The same wording was used for Romania and Slovenia. Lithuanian diplomats claimed that such wording corresponded to their expectations. Lithuania wished to be explicitly labeled as a future candidate for inclusion in 2002. President Valdas Adamkus claimed that, in his opinion, the summit results were "very positive with powerful moves forward".

The summit also passed the Membership Action Plan as a tool for aspirant countries to prepare for NATO membership. "Until now, everybody had talked about open door policy but it is already clear that a decision will be made before 2002 which nations to invite to the next enlargement stage. Therefore, we have to endeavor not to loose the pace, which had already started gathering momentum. Now we are listed in the first triplet of front-runners along with Slovenia and Romania, and we must be in this position in three years as well," stated Pres. Adamkus.

According to Pres. Adamkus Lithuania established a Coordination Commission on Integration to NATO. This was done to prepare to implement the Membership Actin Plan in the most efficient manner. Lithuania’s Parliament Chairman, Vytautas Landsbergis stated that Lithuania "must complete its consistent political, diplomatic, economic and defense projects so that Lithuania could offer a safe existence to its people."

Paul Goble, Communications Director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a leading American foreign policy analyst, stated that he believed that Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, could join NATO by 2002 if they made considerable strides to improve their military capabilities. He went on to state to the Baltic News Service (BNS) that the collapse of Russia and changes of governments in a number of Western countries will lead to major changes in the security environment for the Baltic states. Contrary to a number of Western commentators, Globe believes that the crisis in Kosovo has actually increased the chances of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to receive an invitation to NATO because the crisis makes one change political thinking. According to the U.S. analyst the Kosovo crisis has dismissed an argument that European Union (EU) membership is a sufficient security guarantee.

Regarding the Kosovo crisis, Pres. Adamkus predicted Europe would face hard times if NATO lost the war in Kosovo. "If it happens I see no prospects for democratic development in Europe. The defeat of NATO would pave the way to action of any mad dictator," the Washington Post cited him as saying.

Lithuania lost no time in its quest for NATO admittance. During the last week of April, over 50 servicemen from twelve nations attended a three-day Operations and Logic Workshop held by NATO regional headquarters in hotel Villon located near Vilnius. The workshop was among the largest NATO events implemented in Lithuania this year. It was organized by the third-level NATO regional headquarters BALTAP, based in Denmark. It presented the structure and reorganization of the alliance, its conception of peacekeeping operations, and their planning and provision of troops.u