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Q: Ambassador Damusis, you're the head of the Mission of Lithuania to NATO. Thank you for joining us today for this video interview. What are your expectations as a future member of NATO?
Mrs Damusis: I think our first expectation is that this is a full legitimization of our return to the European and transatlantic family of nations. So with this membership comes our return to the Euro-Atlantic mainstream.
Also, I think it's the culmination of many years of hard work. But there's no illusions about the work that still needs to be done. And obviously we see this as the reinforcement of our national security interest, namely that we'll be receiving the hard security guarantees that we've worked for for so long.
And last, but not least, I would say that with the word NATO one associates stability and security. And we think that it will do a lot of good for our economy and investment climate.
Q: What will Lithuania bring to the Alliance?
Mrs Damusis: There's no doubt that we'll be bringing, first of all, strong political commitment to this organization. We'll be bringing our national assets, along with our national experience in dealing with our neighbours and other countries in other regions.
Right now, I can say we've been participating as a de facto member in this organization. For a small country with limited resources such as ours, since 1994, we've had well over a 1,000 servicemen and women participate in NATO-led and other international operations in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. So I think we'll be continuing this fine tradition. I think we have a good track record in this area. And we'll continue to build on that.
Q: And more specifically, in what way will you contribute to the new military structure and missions of the Alliance?
Mrs Damusis: We're in the unique situation of having had to build our armed forces from scratch. So we've been able to do it right, in a sense. And you know, we have many of our NATO partners to thank for that.
We've been really focusing on building mobile, effective, rapidly deployable units. We've been focusing on having them well equipped and having them deployable. We'll continue to build on this and really focus on developing a modern armed forces.
I also think that we'll be able to continue and strengthen that contribution we've been making to different operations, over a dozen thus far, in terms of deployable units and also work on developing niche capabilities where we think we have something concrete to offer to the Alliance.
Q: As a future new ally, how do you see Lithuania influencing the political debate at NATO?
Mrs Damusis: We can sense, even at this stage, where we are participating in NAC meetings as invitee countries, that we're already able to make a contribution just by the mere fact that we have our own national experiences. For instance, in Lithuania's case, we have a strong record of promoting co-operation in the region, particularly among the Baltic States. We belong to a robust network of defence co-operative initiatives. We also have a strong record in promoting co-operation among countries of the Baltic Sea region, including with the Russian Federation.
And I should note that the Vilnius Group which really promoted solidarity among the countries aspiring to NATO membership was established in Lithuania. So we have a strong feeling of solidarity that we hope to strengthen and reinforce here at NATO.
Q: Thank you very much.
Mrs Damusis: Thank you.