Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur visited London from 11–13 September to meet with UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey, to support the Estonian defence industry at the international defence and security trade exhibition DSEI, and to visit the NATO DIANA HQ.
During Pevkur’s meeting with James Heappey, the ministers discussed both the situation in Ukraine and bilateral cooperation. “The Minister of State for the Armed Forces confirmed that cooperation with Estonia will continue as planned. The same was confirmed by the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence John Healey, for whom it is of the utmost importance that the British honour their commitments to both Estonia and NATO,” said Pevkur.
Visiting the defence and security trade exhibition DSEI, the Defence Minister noted that the European Defence Fund has opened up new opportunities for the development of the defence industry and it is a pleasure to see Estonian companies proving themselves to be competitive partners internationally. “Defence cooperation projects not only add to our security capabilities, but also strengthen cross-border ties both inside and outside of Europe,” said Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.
The Ministry of Defence and the Defence Forces support companies in developing and testing innovative and high-tech solutions. The strengths of Estonian companies lie primarily in military robotics, autonomous systems, cyber defence, surveillance solutions and artificial intelligence applications, as well as other defence materials and services.
The NATO DIANA Defence Innovation Accelerator aims to support deep tech companies, which would bring together the strengths of the Allies in the development and deployment of new and disruptive technologies for the security and defence of the Alliance. DIANA is headquartered in London, with headquarter branches in Tallinn, Estonia, and Halifax, Canada.
“I thanked the Managing Director of DIANA, Professor Deeph Chana, and his team for the good cooperation, as a result of which we will be able to see technology experts at the Tallinn branch of DIANA already next year. We have reason to be proud of the participation of Estonian companies – their level is high,” said Minister of Defence Pevkur.
At the DSEI fair, 14 Estonian companies participated in the Estonian pavilion, brought to the fair by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency: Marduk Technologies, GScan, Nordic Armoury, Cybernetica, Milectria Est, Threod Systems, Samelin, SensusQ, Toci, Vegvisir, Terramil, Bristol Trust, Milrem Robotics, CybExer Technologies, and the Estonian Defence and Space Industries Association.
In addition, Minister Pevkur met during his visit with UK Shadow Secretary of State for Defence John Healey to discuss the future of UK-Estonian defence cooperation.
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Photos: Ministry of Defence | Flickr