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Press Release No 4 Estonian and Finland Declared Fruitful Cooperation

10. October 2006 - 11:27
Estonia's Defense Minister Jurgen Ligi and his Finnish counterpart, Seppo Kaariainen, declared at a meeting in Helsinki today that the two countries' cooperation in defence continues in harmony and in a spirit of mutual understanding and support.

Ligi congratulated Finland on the upcoming presidency of EU and wished good luck in the responsible work.

Finland promised to continue for at least two more years support to the Baltic Defense College based in Estonia\'s second-largest city Tartu by providing teaching staff.

As a positive example of regional cooperation, the ministers named BALTDEFCOL\'s key role in educating senior officers. Finland promised to continue providing teaching staff to the college till 2008 at the least.

Speaking about broad regional cooperation, the ministers noted also the development of the Nordic Battle groups to which Sweden, Finland, Norway and Estonia are contributing and which should be operational by the first half of 2008.

The ministers further spoke about questions relating to Ukraine. Both Ligi and Kaariainen found it essential to support Ukraine\'s aspirations to integrate into Europe.

Ligi also had a meeting  with the Chairman of the Finnish Parliament\'s National Defense Committee, Kauko Juhantalo, focusing on airspace guarding and NATO-related questions.