NATO Secretary General meets EU Defence Ministers, attends cyber exercise

  • 07 Sep. 2017 -
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  • Last updated: 07 Sep. 2017 15:09

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated as an observer in a cyber exercise at the informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers in Tallinn on Thursday (7 September 2017). Mr. Stoltenberg highlighted that NATO-EU cooperation is "key" in responding to growing cyber threats, and that the two organisations have jointly responded to major attacks this year. He announced that NATO has invited the EU to participate in the Alliance's "Cyber Coalition" exercise in November - one of the largest such exercises in the world.

Family photo following the informal meeting of Defence Ministers in Tallinn with Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative, Juri Luik, Minister of Defence of Estonia and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
The Secretary General is completing a two-day visit to Estonia. On Wednesday, the Secretary General visited NATO’s UK-led battlegroup in Tapa, together with Prime Minister Jüri Ratas. Addressing troops, Mr. Stoltenberg called the multinational force “a very strong signal of NATO unity, NATO resolve and NATO strength”.

While in Estonia, the Secretary General met with President Kersti Kaljulaid, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas, Foreign Minister Sven Mikser and Defence Minister Jüri Luik. Mr. Stoltenberg concluded his visit to the country with an address to the EPP Group of the European Parliament, where he highlighted the important role of parliamentarians in strengthening NATO-EU cooperation, and the need to strengthen European defence without duplicating NATO.