Minister of Defence Urmas Reinsalu said today at a meeting with the visiting General Volker Wieker, the Chief of Staff of the German armed forces, that defence cooperation between Estonia and Germany has become significantly deeper in recent years, reported Ministry of Defence.
“Estonia’s vessel protection detachment has gained invaluable cooperation experience serving with German naval personnel, protecting merchant ships from piracy off the coast of Somalia. Germany also contributes actively to the NATO Cyber Defence Centre in Tallinn,” said Reinsalu at the meeting.
The defence minister also thanked General Wieker for Germany’s contribution to the Baltic air policing mission. “The Baltic states’ airspace policing operation is one of the best and highest-profile examples of NATO collective defence. German fighters have been protecting Baltic airspace on five occasions already and there are few such countries who have contributed so frequently to the airspace policing mission,” said Reinsalu.
Reinsalu and Wieker also discussed Baltic Sea region security, the NATO Cyber Defence Centre and the Baltic Defence College.
On a two-day visit to Estonia, General Wieker also visited the Ämari air base, met his Estonian counterpart Brigadier General Riho Terras and laid a wreath at the foot of the Cross of Liberty monument in downtown Tallinn.
Today General Wieker is due to meet Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee chair Marko Mihkelson and Ministry of Defence secretary general Mikk Marran and visit the NATO Cyber Defence Centre.