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Lithuania and Finland ready to strengthen partnership in defense and high technologies

President of the Republic of Lithuania

September 02, 2025

President Gitanas Nausėda, currently on a visit to Finland, together with Finland's Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen, opened the Lithuania-Finland Defense Industry and Science Forum on High-Tech Cooperation.

According to the President, this forum is an excellent platform for dialogue, partnership and new opportunities. He expressed confidence that Lithuania and Finland are ready to expand cooperation in business and science while at the same time significantly strengthening the foundations of shared security.

"After regaining independence, Lithuania looked to the Finnish economy as a guiding star and role model. We observed how Finland transformed itself from a resource-based to a successful high-tech economy," the President said.

Gitanas Nausėda noted that Finland's accession to NATO was a historically significant step that strengthened security not only in the Baltic Sea region but also across NATO's entire eastern flank.

According to the President, in order to increase resilience and strengthen its defense capabilities, Lithuania will allocate 5-6 percent of GDP to defense starting next year.

"This is a strategic decision that strengthens our military capabilities, the defense industry base, and contributes to NATO's overall deterrence policy," he emphasized, adding that historical experience shows deterrence works only when backed by real capabilities - industrial, logistical and technological.

The President pointed out that Lithuania has already earned the trust of global defense industry leaders: international giants such as Germany's Rheinmetall and the U.S. company Northrop Grumman are developing production capacities in Lithuania.

Speaking about science and innovation, the President noted that Lithuania currently supplies more than half of the world's ultrashort-pulse scientific lasers, which are used at CERN, NASA and other leading laboratories.

"Lithuania's photonics sector has grown at over 16 percent annually over the past decade - ten times faster than the European average. Our ICT sector now contributes over 5 percent of Lithuania's GDP, and its export volume has increased fivefold in recent years," the President said.

According to Gitanas Nausėda, Lithuania is ready to become a strategic and reliable partner for Finland in the fields of high technologies and defense: "Together with Finland, we can help shape the future of European defense - by strengthening technological capacity, advancing joint research, testing, and innovation," he said.

During the business forum, cooperation documents were signed between Lithuanian and Finnish defense industry associations, including a partnership quantum technologies.

Lithuania was represented at the forum by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Defense Resources Agency under the Ministry of National Defense, and organizations and associations including the Innovation Agency, Invest Lithuania, the Research Council of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Defense and Security Industry Association (LGSPA), the Engineering and Technology Industries Association of Lithuania (LINPRA), the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC), as well as representatives of business enterprises.

Later, the President also met with the Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo, to discuss bilateral relations, economic cooperation, defense industry, and security issues. The meeting focused on strengthening the defense industry, the regional security situation and support for Ukraine.

The President's Communication Group