EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq travelled to Tallinn on 17 April for discussions with the Estonian Minister of Defence, Sven Mikser, on preparations of the June 2015 European Council and Estonia’s participation in EDA projects. Jorge Domecq also met with the Head of the Estonian Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Riho Terras and visited the Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence.
“The European Defence Agency is crucial for driving defence cooperation in the EU”, Estonian Minister of Defence Sven Mikser said at Friday’s meeting with EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq. “The task has been difficult during a period of heavy cuts in defence spending but we can give a positive assessment regardless.”
“We are quite pleased with many projects that we have worked on together such as joint procurement for Carl Gustav ammunition, and we are looking forward to the results of EDA’s cyber projects”, the Minister added.
“The cyber-attacks on European media in recent weeks illustrate that cyberspace has become a key challenge of our current security environment as well as the fifth domain of warfare, equally critical to military operations as land, sea, air, and space. The European Defence Agency supports Member States in improving their cyber defence capabilities. Our cyber defence programme with the active involvement of Estonia contains projects aimed at research, training and exercises, cyber situational awareness in CSDP operations, detection and protection”, Jorge Domecq said during his visit in Tallinn.
Mr. Domecq also exchanged views with other high-level officials of the Estonian Ministry of Defence as well as the Head of the Estonian Defence Forces Lieutenant General Riho Terras. During a visit at the Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence, ways to further enhance cooperation with EDA were discussed.
Cyber defence
In the European Defence Agency capability development plan, cyber defence is one of the priority actions. A project team of EDA and its participating Member States’ representatives is responsible for jointly developing cyber defence capabilities within the EU common security and defence policy (CSDP). A network of EDA and Member States research & technology experts support this work through collaborative activities delivering the required technologies at the right time. All of this is positioned next to existing and planned efforts by civil communities (national and EU institutions) and NATO. Given that threats are multifaceted, a comprehensive approach is taken, seeking to enhance synergies between the civilian and military domains in protecting critical cyber assets.
The visit in Tallinn is part of a series of visits by Mr. Domecq to all EDA Member States following his appointment as EDA Chief Executive and ahead of the Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2015. So far, Mr. Domecq visited Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Croatia. Next week he will travel to Poland, Hungary, Greece and Cyprus.
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