The NATO Parliamentary Assembly discusses strengthening deterrence and the alliance’s collective defence
Head of the Estonian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Raimond Kaljulaid and members of the delegation Urmas Reinsalu and Marko Mihkelson are participating in the annual session of the Assembly in Lithuania, where the focus is on the alliance's collective defence, increasing defence spending, measures against hybrid threats, and further support for Ukraine.
Head of the Estonian delegation Raimond Kaljulaid said that the delegation, for its part, would like to continue to emphasize the need for strong collective defence and support for Ukraine at the meeting. “We consider it important that member states move forward and implement the actions agreed upon at the summits, one part of which is increasing defence spending to 5 percent. Estonia has already done this,” Kaljulaid emphasized.
He considered it important to quickly move forward with the development of the defence industry as well, without which NATO collective defence is unthinkable. “We must be able to increase production volumes while at the same time moving forward with the development of innovative and advantage-giving technologies, for which initiatives such as NATO’s Diana are crucial,” Kaljulaid explained.
“A turning point has occurred in the war in Ukraine; Russia can no longer rely on time working in its favour. Based on this, it is even more important that member states do not reduce support for Ukraine, but on the contrary, find ways to increase it,” he emphasized.
The members of the Estonian delegation are focusing on discussions in the Assembly committees, which take place before the plenary session of the Assembly. At the standing committee bringing together heads and deputy heads of delegations, the focus is on supporting a quantum leap in deterrence and defence, and the parliamentary agenda for a stronger NATO, on which a joint declaration is planned to be adopted at the plenary session. In addition to the standing committee, Kaljulaid is a member of the Defence and Security Committee, Mihkelson is a member of the Assembly’s Political Committee, and Reinsalu is a member of the Committee on Democracy and Security.
On Monday, the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Marcos Perestrello, the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, the Speaker of the Parliament Juozas Olekas, the Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO Radmila Shekerinska and the European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius will deliver speeches at the annual session of the Assembly. A joint declaration will be adopted at the annual meeting.
Within the framework of the Assembly, members of the Estonian delegation will also participate in a separate meeting with the delegations of the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as Poland and Germany.
Riigikogu Press Service
Gunnar Paal
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