Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson and Chairman of the National Defence Committee Hannes Hanso are taking part today and tomorrow in a meetings of the chairmen of the foreign affairs and national defence committees of the Nordic Countries and Baltic States (NB 8), held in Asikkala, Finland.

At the two-day meeting, colleagues from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland will discuss the current security situation in the region, Russia’s security policy, hybrid dimension of security, and the security of the EU.

Mihkelson said that the meeting is taking place simultaneously with a number of military exercises in the region, which attract particular attention from the politicians interested in the field. “Ensuring the security of the region is the common goal for us all, and in order to reach it, we must cooperate closely at all level,” he said.

Hanso said that the politicians are keeping a close eye on the exercises in our neighbourhood; they will analyse these and make decisions accordingly. While Russia and Belarus are jointly conducting the Zapad exercise, 20,000 Swedish, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Lithuanian, Norwegian, and US troops are taking part in the large scale Aurora exercise in Sweden.

“Some NB8 countries are NATO members, some are not. Yet we all understand that we have challenges in the region that can only be solved through cooperation,” Hanso said.

The purpose of the regular meetings of the Nordic and Baltic chairmen of the foreign affairs and national defence committees is to discuss the current regional and international topics.

Riigikogu Press Service
Epp-Mare Kukemelk
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