Minister of Defence Jüri Luik met today, in Tokyo, with Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera, in order to discuss bilateral defence cooperation and questions related to international security. This was the first trip to Japan by Estonia’s Minister of Defence.
‘Estonia shares common values with Japan and a similar understanding of the security threats facing today’s world. Military developments in Russia concern Estonia as well as Japan – we may be located in different parts of the world geographically; however, the security threats presented by Russia are, in many ways, similar,' said Minister of Defence Luik. ‘Our countries are watching with deep concern as Russia continues to boldly develop its military capability and conduct massive training exercises, such as the recently held large-scale training exercise Vostok. In addition, Japanese experts are helping us to better understand developments on the Korean peninsula’.
Within the framework of the meeting Luik met yesterday with Counter Admiral Akira Ichida, Director of Communications and Information Systems for the Japanese Defence Forces. Minister Luik was also introduced to the Japanese Defence Forces cyber range and provided with a demonstration of its capabilities.
‘Japan’s competency in the field of information technology and cyber defence is quite impressive. Estonia and Japan decided to strengthen their cyber defence related cooperation, for example, through the use of training exercises and infrastructure,’ said Luik after the meeting.
Minister of Defence Luik also met with Minoru Terada, Chairman on the Committee of Security, and participated in the roundtable organised by the Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies, where discussions with experts focused mainly on cyber defence and the threats posed by Russia.
Estonia enjoys a close cyber defence related dialogue with Japan, and Japan is preparing to join NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, in Tallinn. Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera visited Estonia in May of this year. During his visit, he received an overview of the large-scale training exercise Siil and visited Ämari Air Base.
Japan is one of the most important NATO partner countries. This summer, Japanese Navy ships participated together with NATO ships in the training exercise carried out on the Baltic Sea.
