NATO Deputy Secretary General visits Estonia

She began at the Ämari Airbase, from where the Portuguese Air Force currently helps secure the skies as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission.  The Deputy Secretary General was also briefed on the ongoing multinational exercise Hedgehog/Siil. Led by Estonia, the exercise brings together over 18,000 Estonian military personnel and forces from eleven Allied countries, including NATO’s multinational presence in Estonia.  

At the Lennart Meri Conference later in the day, the Deputy Secretary General outlined NATO’s priorities for the upcoming Summit in The Hague.  She discussed the ways to strengthen deterrence and defence in the face of global security challenges, emphasising the importance of increasing defence spending and defence production. She also discussed NATO’s support to Ukraine.
Mrs. Shekerinska also visited the Regional Hub of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), where start-ups work to adapt their innovative technologies to defence, in areas such as sensing and surveillance, energy, and critical infrastructure.

The Deputy Secretary General met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Margus Tsahkna, and the Minister of Defence, Mr Hanno Pevkur.  She thanked Estonia for its exemplary commitment to investing in defence, support for Ukraine, as well as for its contributions to defence innovation and cyber defence.