Tomczyk made the statement during a meeting of defense ministers from the Northern Group of European countries held in Palanga, Lithuania, on Thursday.
"It's very interesting how Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia aim to build their defense line," Tomczyk said at a press conference.
He added: "Since Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has decided to go ahead with the Shield East initiative, we want to combine it with the Baltic Shield. This is very important to us."
Earlier this month, Tusk announced a plan to allocate PLN 10 billion (EUR 2.35 billion) to upgrade the country’s border defenses. The drive, dubbed "Shield East," includes the construction of an extensive system of border fortifications.
Thursday’s meeting of the Northern Group, which includes 12 countries—five Nordic nations (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), Poland, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands—focused on security issues in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic region, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Key topics included support for Ukraine, increasing defense budgets to no less than 2 percent of GDP, and preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in Washington in July.
(jh/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP