Today, on June 7 the defence ministers of NATO candidate countries, the Estonian Minister of Defence Sven Mikser among them, met with the US Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld in Brussels.
The US Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld confirmed his country’s support to the NATO enlargement involving larger number of candidates. At the same time Rumsfeld stressed that the final decision concerning the final decision of candidates getting an invitation to join the Alliance has not been made yet.
According to Rumsfeld an important change in security-political thinking has taken place. “In earlier days the defence systems were built up on the territorial principle, with the aim of defending oneself against the neighbors. Now new dangers have occurred which demand different defence precautions. Inter-state co-operation in the security area has become crucial and each country should find the niche enabling to be most useful for others,” he added. The US Defence Minister pointed out Baltic States as a positive example of defence co-operation: “We have to co-operate in the way the Baltic States have done it in the security area,” Rumsfeld said.