“Today, we decided with the JEF leaders to strengthen the coalition’s cooperation with Ukraine. This means wider opportunities to involve Ukraine in the JEF exercises and an exchange of experience to share the lessons of the ongoing war in Ukraine,” said the Prime Minister.
The security situation in the focus areas of the JEF framework in the Baltic Sea, Arctic and North Atlantic regions was also discussed. “Estonia has done its homework. Over the next four years, our defence spending will amount to 5.4% of GDP,” said Michal. “Estonia will support the exponential increase of the base level of defence spending at the upcoming NATO summit,” he added.
Last night, the coalition leaders also made joint phone calls to US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“The support of the Joint Expeditionary Force countries for Ukraine is unwavering,” the Prime Minister assured. “We share the same view of the situation. In the joint telephone conversation yesterday, we conveyed to US President Donald Trump our position that it is necessary to support Ukraine and maintain pressure on Russia,” he said.
The Joint Expeditionary Force is a UK-led defence cooperation format that includes, in addition to Estonia, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland.
The aim of the format is to be the first responder before the declaration of Article 5 of NATO, complementing the activities of NATO. The previous JEF Leaders' Summit took place in December last year in Tallinn.
Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stenbockimaja/albums/72177720325975830/with/54507570893
Joint statement: https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/joint-press-statement/id3099728/
