NATO Secretary-General: countries will duly guard Lithuania's air space, right after the country joins this alliance

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer claims that NATO countries will duly guard Lithuania's air space, right after the country joins this alliance. Lithuanian air space will be protected in the same way as that of other NATO countries, Mr. Scheffer added. There are no first-rate and second-rate members; nor should there be any, Mr. Scheffer went on to say. NATO will fulfil its commitments, after Lithuania completely joins the North Atlantic Treaty, Mr. Scheffer noted. The Lithuanian Defense Ministry's Undersecretary Povilas Malakauskas said that Lithuanian and NATO experts were now working rather intensively, and that they were trying to solve the problem of guarding national air space. NATO experts, who recently visited Lithuania, collected information for making the final decision, Mr. Malakauskas added. In his words, specific air-defense options (rather than the very possibility of guarding Lithuanian air space) are currently being examined, so that Lithuania won't become a second-rate NATO member April 2, Mr. Malakauskas stressed.