VILNIUS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The defence ministers of Lithuania and Poland signed on Wednesday a joint communique at a meeting of the Lithuanian-Polish Council of Defence Ministers.

The communique laid out closer cooperation between the two countries in the area of defence.

"Defence cooperation of Lithuania and Poland is crucial for Lithuanian, as well as regional security. The two countries have been developing intense bilateral relations since 1993," Lithuania's Ministry of Defence said in a statement released after the ministers signed the communique.

This is the first meeting of the Lithuanian-Polish Council of Defense Ministers after Polish President Andrzej Duda and then Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite signed a joint declaration on strengthening the Polish-Lithuanian partnership for security in Warsaw in 2019.

The two presidents at that time agreed to combine efforts to achieve cornerstone objectives for regional security both, bilaterally and in the format of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Union.