VILNIUS. Feb 11 (Interfax/BNS) - President Rolandas Paksas urged his nation on Tuesday to extend an agreement with NATO to allocate a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product for defense.
This "would demonstrate to everyone once again the strength of the domestic political consensus on Lithuania's membership in NATO and on its national security," Paksas told a news conference in Vilnius.
He also advocated further military reforms to meet NATO standards and modern challenges.
He announced at the news conference that the 19 NATO member states had finished ratifying protocols on the accession to the alliance of Lithuania and six other Central and Eastern European countries.
Lithuania is expected to ratify the Washington Treaty, the NATO founding accord, on March 11, 2004, and the seven candidate members are to join the alliance in the second half of April.