Ukraine and Lithuania strengthen cooperation in cybersecurity

Ukraine and Lithuania sign a declaration of intent on cooperation. Credit: Sgt Spc I.Budzeikaitė.

Ukraine and Lithuania have signed a joint declaration to enhance cybersecurity cooperation and to define the priorities for cooperation between the two countries for the coming year.

Lithuania President Gitanas Nausėda and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky have signed two interinstitutional declarations focusing on cooperation in cybersecurity and electronic identification.

The presidents have also discussed defence and security issues and agreed to enhance engagement with the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade.

Both the countries have agreed to put special focus on bilateral political and economic relations, security and defense issues, Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration in addition to cooperation on energy, innovation, transport, and social policy.

Nausėda said: “The President of Ukraine and I agreed on the need to pursue long-term ambitious goals of the Eastern Partnership Initiative. Lithuania supports Ukraine’s increased sectoral integration with the EU in areas such as energy, the digital economy, law and domestic policy. We also look forward to closer cooperation on customs issues.”

The presidents have also discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine, preparations for the Normandy Quartet meeting, and relations with Russia.

Nausėda gave assurance to Ukraine that there would be no change in the sanctions against Russia until the Minsk agreements were implemented and the annexation of Crimea continued.

Lithuania Defence Minister R Karoblis and Ukraine Defence Minister A Zagorodniuk have visited the National Cyber Security Centre under the MoD and meet on a bilateral basis at the Ministry of National Defence.