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US Defense Cooperation Program with Lithuania brings $285K for Civil Protection

March 8, 2001

WHAT:  US Defense Cooperation Program with Lithuania brings $285K for Civil Protection

WHERE:  “Black” Hall at the Ministry of Defense

WHEN:  Friday, 9 March 2001, at 11.00 hrs

CONTACT:

Director of the Civil Protection Department, COL Antanas Paulikas, 622-942 or

Deputy Director CPT Arūnas Šiukšta, 611-931 or

Imsre Sabaliunas Bruzgiene:  US Embassy, Media Specialist (8-22-660-330)

US Defense Cooperation Program Supports Lithuanian Disaster Response Center

March 9, 2001 – Upon the invitation of the Minister of Defense, Minister of Defense Linas Linkevicius and the US Ambassador to Lithuania John Tefft will visit the Defense Ministry in Vilnius to take part in a formal ceremony dedicating US government assistance to rebuilding Lithuanian disaster response programs.  The renovation of the Civil Protection Training and Resource Center, located in Nemencine, is made possible by a grant of $285,000 from the United States European Command’s Humanitarian Assistance Program.  In Lithuania, this program is administered by Major Paige L. Thorner, Chief of the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation.

This Humanitarian Assistance grant reflects the United States’ commitment to helping the Lithuanian government in its plans to develop and enhance the ability of the civilian leadership to prepare for and respond to regional and/or national disasters.  This disaster response preparedness project represents the first phase of a proposed multi-year disaster response preparedness program in Lithuania.  The program hopes to facilitate the development of a network of crisis management – disaster response regional nodes, linked to the National Emergency Management Operations Center, already established in Vilnius in a renovated Cold War Era underground bunker.