In London, at the Permanent Secretaries’ meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force, Permanent Secretary of the Estonian Ministry of Defence Kusti Salm said that the coalition has an important role to play in our region and that cooperation is moving in the right direction.
‘The focus is on the Baltic Sea, the High North and the North Atlantic. A first class example of the capability of the Joint Expeditionary Force was demonstrated in March of this year by Expone, the first naval operation in the Baltic Sea, as well as, for example, Baltic Protector, the large-scale training exercise held in 2019,’ said Kusti Salm.
‘For Estonia, the value of the Joint Expeditionary Force lies in its clear objective and practical military co-operation in the Baltic Sea region, which we will be able to practice in Sweden, at the Joint Protector 2021 training exercise, in September,’ he added.
Among the topical security issues on the table, the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Defence of Member States also discussed the hybrid attack led by the Lukashenka regime against Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, and the Russian Federation’s large-scale strategic exercise Zapad 2021.
The Joint Expeditionary Force is a coalition initiated and led by the United Kingdom which includes Estonia, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and, as of April this year, Iceland. Areas of focus for the coalition are the Baltic Sea region, the High North and the North Atlantic region. Upon activation of the Joint Expeditionary Force, the United Kingdom will provide the necessary command and control elements, which the Member States will supplement with their capabilities.
Permanent Secretary of the Estonian Ministry of Defence Kusti Salm will also be visiting the international business fair DSEI 2021, taking place from 14–17 September, in London. In which Estonian defence industry companies Bristol Trust OÜ, SensusQ, Samelin AS, Nordic Armory OÜ, Marduk Technologies OÜ, ETHR OÜ, TerraMil OÜ, Threod Systems AS, and Milrem Robotics will be participating.
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