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June 13 marked the official opening ceremonies for Amber Hope 2011, the largest multinational military exercise held in Lithuania this year. The ceremonies were held in Klaipėda, Naval Flotilla, and Pabradės Training Area - the latter accommodating the greater number of exercise participants.

Lithuanian Minister of Defence, Rasa Juknevičienė, Chief of Defence for Lithuania, Maj Gen Arvydas Pocius, Ordinary Bishop of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Gintaras Grušas, Chairman of the Lithuanian Red Cross Society, Romualdas Konstantinas Dobrovolskis, component chiefs of the Lithuanian armed forces, military representatives of foreign states, and other honourable guests attended the opening event in Pabradė.

"It is a great honour and also a challenge to·organise this Exercise where both Lithuania's allies and partners participate," said Minister of National Defence, Rasa Juknevičienė. "Amber Hope has grown both in ambition and scope since 1995, testifying to the significance of the Exercise for security in the region, and for the Alliance and partner countries. We also invited observers from all neighbouring countries, as it is an important element in strengthening our joint effort to increase transparency and mutual trust. The contemporary armed forces must be capable of, and maintain readiness for, responding instantly to a range of challenges in multinational operations. As such, the central goal of the Exercise is to continue strengthening the interaction of NATO and partner countries in conducting crisis response operations, as well as strengthening multilateral military cooperation", added the Lithuanian Minister of Defence. 

" Lithuania will  be commemorating the 70th anniversary of tragic forced exiles by Soviet regime and I am happy that the situation in Lithuania today is completely different, " added the Minister, raising a fact as she stood amidst a crowd of troops, strong and determined to defend their motherland.

"Despite the recession, a country must prepare for national defence. As a result it was decided that further delaying the Amber Hope would be unacceptable, so it was resurrected after a four-year absence," stated the Chief of Defence for Lithuania, Maj Gen Arvydas Pocius.

The first phase of the Exercise began as early as in the afternoon of June 13, and will last until June 18. During this phase, units will complete a range of crisis response operations, whereas staff elements will be conducting operational planning for crisis response operations. This phase will prepare participants for the active phase of the Exercise.

During the following phase of the exercise, from June 19 to 23, troops will follow an established scenario based on lessoms learnt by Lithuanian and foreign states in Afghanistan, Iraq and off the Somali coast.

The Exercise will take place from June 13 to 23 simultaneously in both the Pabradės Training Area, and the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of Lithuania in the Baltic Sea. It will involve more than 2,000 military and civilian personnel from seven NATO countries - Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and the USA, and two partner countries under the Partnership for Peace program - Georgia and Finland. Observerations for the Exercise include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The Lithuanian Armed Forces have been organizing Amber Hope since 1995. The last series of Amber Hope was held in Klaipėda in 2007. This year, the Exercise is organized and conducted by the Joint Headquarters of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

For more information about the Exercise:
http://kariuomene.kam.lt/lt/ah2011.html
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