Today, the Minister of Defence Jüri Luik met with the Finnish Secretary of State Rauno Saari, who is on business visit in Estonia upon the invitation of the Estonian State Secretary Aino Lepik von Wiren.
One of the discussion topics during the meeting was that of the European military and defence developments in connection with NATO.
Introducing the developments in NATO-joining-process of Estonia and other Baltic countries Luik stressed that the procedure in comparison with that of the previous year has become more stable and peaceful and that the invitation to become the full member of NATO is close to realization during the Prague summit.
The sides found that EDF training program supported by Finland, both for officers and noncommissioned officers has been successful. Rauno Saari mentioned that during his visit to Niinisalo training centre in Finland the local instructors praised the Estonian artillerists who regularly go practicing there due to the lack of their own training facilities.
At the end of the meeting both parties stated that the security – and defence policy of the countries had many joint characters and the defence co-operation should be continued on the same, very efficiently progressing level.