Defense Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed a cooperation memorandum in Tallinn on 12 December

Defense Ministers Linas Linkevicius of Lithuania, Girts Valdis Kristovskis of Latvia, and Margus Hanson of Estonia signed a cooperation memorandum in Tallinn on 12 December according to which the Baltic Defense College in Tartu will be financed by all three Baltic states beginning next year. At their regular biannual meeting, the ministers agreed that each country will allocate 187,000 euros ($225,000) to finance the college, with Estonia contributing another 224,000 euros to pay for the maintenance of the college campus. Brigadier General Michael H. Clemmesen of Denmark now heads the college, but that post will be taken over by an officer from one of the Baltic states. The ministers agreed that the joint air-space surveillance system Baltnet and the joint Baltic naval squadron Baltron are functioning well and have helped the Baltic states' integration into NATO. The ministers talked about the possible joint participation of their troops in international peacekeeping operations and also signed a joint communique and a 2004 defense-cooperation plan.