Today 11 June, Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets had a video meeting with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Ambassador of the United States of America to the UN.
The United States is Estonia’s main Ally and partner. “We appreciate US leadership in advancing democracy and human rights worldwide. I affirmed Estonia’s interest in wide-ranging cooperation with the United States to these ends, including in the protection of the rights of children and women. We are looking forward to important messages from the United States at the upcoming NATO summit and the EU-US summit,” Liimets said.
At the meeting, the foreign minister also thanked the United States for close cooperation at the UN Security Council so far, and outlined Estonia’s priorities during its presidency in June. In turn, Estonia was thanked for raising cybersecurity as a separate issue at the UN Security Council for the first time. They also discussed several topical and regular issues on the agenda of the council, including the situation in Syria, Afghanistan, Mali and Ethiopia. “We have presented the United States with an invitation to attend the upcoming meeting on Afghanistan, which I will chair,” Foreign Minister Liimets said.
They also discussed which additional steps the council could take to support Ukraine and Belarus. “Events in Ukraine and Belarus are testing the foundations of international law and affects relations between states,” the foreign minister added.
During its presidency, Estonia is organising three high-level meetings at the UN Security Council in June: cybersecurity, Afghanistan and rights of children in armed conflict. The Estonian Presidency aims at including representatives of the civil society as briefers in as many meetings as possible. This provides the discussions with an immediate perspective on the impact of conflict and local insight.
Additional information:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Communication Department
[email protected]