As part of a series of visits aimed at strengthening ties with Member States’ Ministries of Defence and Armed Forces, André Denk, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, visited Finland on 27 and 28 May.
During the visit, Denk met in Helsinki with Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen; General Janne Jaakkola, Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces; Janne Kuusela, Permanent Secretary of Finland’s Ministry of Defence; Olli Ruutu, Director-General for Defence Policy and National Armaments Director at the Ministry of Defence, Major General Sami Nurmi, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy and CAP Director at the Finnish Defence Forces; and Lieutenant Colonel Jouni Koivisto, Chief of Research at the Finnish Defence Forces.
The two-day visit featured also a visit to the Vaalimaa land border crossing between Finland and Russia. In addition, it was an opportunity for Denk to participate in a capability demonstration with the Jehu U700 military vessel and meet senior officials within the Finnish national defence administration.
The discussions focused on the EU’s defence readiness agenda, Finland’s defence requirements, and the on-going cooperation between Finland and EDA. Finland, which shares an over 1,300-kilometre land border with Russia and joined NATO in 2023, plays a key role in EU defence cooperation and brings to it an important northern Europen perspective.
Chief Executive André Denk and Finnish delegation at the Vaalimaa border crossing between Finland and Russia.