Kaunas calls for more procurement specialists in defence system

Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas says the defence system needs more procurement specialists, LRT reported. He said he had instructed the head of the Defence Resources Agency, which is responsible for procurement, to find more staff.

“There must be more employees,” Kaunas told Žinių radijas on Thursday. He said the defence system had not been prepared to manage the size of the defence budgets allocated in recent years.

Kaunas said he faced the challenge of motivating his team to work with current staffing levels and procedures while also changing the system.

The government is proposing that defence receive 5% of gross domestic product, or more than 4.8 billion euros, next year. This year’s funding was similar in euro terms but represented about 5.38% of GDP.