Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Raimond Kaljulaid and Deputy Chairman of the Committee Leo Kunnas attend the annual security and defence policy conference of Finland and Sweden today to discuss the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO and its impacts.
Kaljulaid believes that the meeting will provide an opportunity to speak about the preparations of Finland and Sweden for joining NATO with the leaders of the defence and security policy of the two countries. “It is clearly in our interest that the accession of both Finland and Sweden would take place as soon as possible. The threat from Russia will not go away; instead, we must be prepared for it to grow over time. The sooner we can move forward with the practical steps that are necessary for strengthening the military defence capabilities of the NATO countries around the Baltic Sea, the better,” he said, and recalled that the Riigikogu had been among the first to approve the protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of Finland and Sweden at the beginning of July.
The conference will be held in Espoo and it will be attended by the Ministers of Defence of Finland and Sweden as well as the leaders of the Defence Committees of the Parliaments of both countries. Kaljulaid and Kunnas also plan to have a bilateral meeting with the new Chair of the Defence Committee of Eduskunta (Parliament) of Finland Antti Häkkänen.
Finland and Sweden have been organising joint security and defence policy conferences for 29 years, and for the first time, Estonia is the only neighbouring country whose representatives have been invited to the conference.
