Minister of Defence Kalle Laanet is on a two-day working visit to Germany, where he met with German Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, with whom good bilateral relations were confirmed and it was found that Estonia and Germany share similar views on defence and security policy. Discussed at the meeting were security in the Baltic Sea region, new areas for cooperation in cyber defence, the field of artificial intelligence and foreign missions, as well as transatlantic relations and China’s influence on world policy.
During the meeting, Defence Minister Laanet expressed his condolences to his German counterpart for those killed in the floods.
‘I am deeply saddened that so many people were hurt and killed in the floodwaters, homes were destroyed. The Bundeswehr is providing invaluable assistance to the affected areas. It is my sincere hope that the joint efforts will help life return to normal. Estonia is ready to help, if necessary,’ said Kalle Laanet.
Laanet thanked Kramp-Karrenbauer for Germany’s contribution to the Baltic Air Policing mission, one of the best examples of NATO’s deterrence and defence posture in the Baltic Sea region.
‘Germany is a strong ally for Estonia, having completed 14 air policing rotations in the Baltic States during the course of the NATO Air Policing mission, 8 of them from Ämari. I believe that Germany will again be able to secure Baltic airspace from Estonia soon,’ noted Laanet.
The defence ministers welcomed the joint project involving Estonian-German field hospitals in support of Ukraine’s military medicine. Within the framework of this, Germany will acquire field hospitals for Ukraine, and the War and Disaster Medicine Centre of the Estonian Military will provide basic training for Ukrainian teams and instructors to deploy the field hospitals. The project will contribute to the intensification of Estonian-German cooperation in the field of military medicine. The mobile field hospital Role 2 was produced by the Estonian company Semetron.
Cyber defence related cooperation was also discussed at the meeting. Estonia is interested in innovative cyber defence related solutions and research and development in conjunction with Germany. Germany, as one of the founding countries of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, has participated over the long-term in the work of the Centre.
During his visit, Minister of Defence Laanet met with Karl A. Lamers, Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee of the German Bundestag, and Lieutenant General Erich Pfeffer, Commander of Bundeswehr Operations Command. Minister Laanet, together with Estonian defence industry companies, is also visiting German companies KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann), Rheinmetall, and Airbus.
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