MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENCE JUOZAS OLEKAS FIRST STOPPED AT LITHUANIA’S PAVILION AT THE TOKYO MARATHON WHILE CONDUCTING A FORMAL VISIT TO JAPAN
On February 23 Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas arrived in the capital of Japan Tokyo and began his formal call by visiting a representative Lithuania’s pavilion at the Tokyo Marathon. The Minister presented to the crowd of the Marathon entrants Lithuania's national cuisine and tried Lithuanian dishes prepared by Japanese cooks.
The Minister of National Defence is also expected to pay a visit to the Lithuania Japan Exchange Centre (http://japan-lithuania.org) that has set up the pavilion.
Minister J.Olekas will be meeting with Defence Minister of Japan Itsunori Onodera to discuss the most relevant security and defence matters, security situation in the respective regions, and opportunities for further developing cooperation.
The Defence Minister’s meeting with Foreign Vice Minister Nobuo Kishi and visits to the Osaka University and the National Institute for Defense Studies have also been scheduled. Later on, J.Olekas will meet with representatives of the Lithuania-Japan Friendship Association.
J. Olekas, as a represntative of inter-parliamentary relations of the Seimas of Lithuania with Japan, will meet with Chairman of the Japan-Lithuania Parliamentary Friendship Association Hirofumi Nakasone.
The Lithuanian-Japanese cooperation was the most visible in the collaboration at the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) of Ghor province, Afghanistan, part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Japan as a donor nation was an active contributor to the development cooperation activities undertaken by the PRT.
Over the period of the PRT mission from 2009 till its closure in the autumn of 2013 Japan provided financing for projects in Ghor province for LTL 122.2m. The funds were used for building schools, reconstructing hospitals, building roads, etc. The Japanese Office was operating from the Lithuanian-headed PRT compound in Chaghcharan.
The cooperation that Lithuania and Japan had launched in Ghor was essential for further economic and social development of the province, and for ensuring welfare and security of local population. Lithuania was in charge of the PRT of Ghor from 2005 till the autumn of 2013.
Minister of Defence J.Olekas is expected to return to Lithuania on March 1. This is the first formal visit by a Lithuanian National Defence Minister to Japan.
