“The need to defend its people and its country has driven Ukraine’s defence industry to innovate rapidly and develop new and highly effective weapons systems. Ukraine is the world’s most experienced country in modern warfare, and there is much we can learn from its expertise and technology. This has been demonstrated, among other things, by the fact that the Gulf states targeted by Iranian attacks turned to Ukraine for advice and assistance,” Tsahkna said.
“The drone agreement between Estonia and Ukraine strengthens cooperation in the fields of expertise, technology and industry. Under the agreement, Ukraine will provide Estonia with selected defence technologies and export licences, enabling Estonia to apply and adopt more rapidly the knowledge, experience and technologies Ukraine has acquired during the war for the benefit of our national defence,” Tsahkna said.
“The agreement we have just signed will enable us, in cooperation with Estonia’s domestic defence industry, to begin manufacturing Ukrainian defence technologies both for Estonia’s own needs and for Ukraine,” the Foreign Minister said. He added that the agreement also reinforces bilateral cooperation in the fields of information technology and cyber security, as well as the exchange of lessons learned from the war, including training, doctrine, best practices and procedures.
The drone agreement between Estonia and Ukraine was signed on the sidelines of the NATO Summit taking place in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on 7–8 July. Today, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna will also take part in the NATO–Ukraine Council meeting together with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and in the Defence Industry Forum, which brings together political leaders, senior officials and defence industry representatives from Allied countries to advance efforts to expand defence industrial production capacity.
Also taking place today are the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting with the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) partners – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait – and a bilateral meeting with Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
