Defence-related assistance refers to material assistance or know-how, which is provided to support the development of national defence in a target country. It is distributed in accordance with Estonia’s general development co-operation principles and security policy considerations.
Estonia’s defence-related assistance is directed to support the partner countries’ security sector reforms. The priority target countries for the Estonian Ministry of Defence are Afghanistan and Georgia, but Estonia provides assistance also to other countries, including Estonia's development cooperation priority partner countries (Ukraine, Moldova).
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Defence-related assistance programmes have been actively implemented since the beginning of the 2000s.We have supported the studies of target countries’ students in the Baltic Defence College and organized advisory visits to both Estonia and the target countries. The provided know-how includes primarily NATO integration process and defence reforms, but heightened interest is also visible in the field of cyber defence.
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Apart from bilateral efforts, Estonia makes use of multilateral international programmes for the implementation of outreach policies, in particular various NATO initiatives for supporting the partner countries. Accordingly, Estonia has made both financial and in-kind contributions to various NATO trust funds developed for Afghanistan, Georgia, and Ukraine. In addition we also support the activities of security sector reform oriented Geneva institutions, such as Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).
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Samuti toetame Genfis tegutsevate julgeolekusektori reformi nõustavate institutsioonide nagu Genfi Relvajõudude Demokraatliku Kontrolli Keskus (DCAF – Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces) ja Genfi Julgeolekupoliitika Keskus (GCSP – Geneva Centre for Security Policy) tööd.
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One of the most successful forms of multilateral co-operation in the sphere of defence is the Nordic-Baltic Initiative, which is coordinated under the auspices of Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8). The overall aim of the NBI is to provide a coordinated and combined approach to the defence cooperation activities in Western Balkans, Ukraine and under Estonia’s impetus since 2009 also in Georgia. NBI’s work is coordinated by a Steering Group (SG), comprising of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. The chairmanship of NBI SG rotates annually – Estonia was the chair in 2013 and Finland in 2014.
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Estonia participates actively also in the South Caucasus and Moldova Clearing House (SCMCH) format. It is a voluntary forum where various donor and recipient countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Georgia) coordinate information and activities in between bi- and multilateral co-operation programmes, with the aim of avoiding duplication and increasing synchronization.