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Foreign Minister Tsahkna at the Davos Economic Forum: Industrial readiness should be at the heart of Europe's new defence and deterrence posture

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

23.01.2025

From 21 to 23 January, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he takes part in discussions on digital cooperation, e-governance, artificial intelligence, green transition, and European security, and has several bilateral meetings.

Yesterday, in a panel on Europe's defence capabilities with Moritz Schularick, Gundbert Scherf and Oleksandr Kamyshin, Tsahkna underlined that Russia is and remains the most serious and long-term security threat and Europe must be prepared to produce weapons and ammunition to defend itself. "Industrial readiness should be at the heart of Europe's new defence and deterrence posture," Tsahkna emphasised.

In the panel, Tsahkna highlighted the recent fund established by the Estonian government to encourage defence investments and develop this area. Tsahkna also noted that Estonia has set the goal of raising its defence spending to 5% of GDP.

The foreign minister said Ukraine was leading by example in quickly growing its defence industry. "These lessons are extremely important for Europe's defence industry too," Tsahkna said.

Speaking about Russia's aggression, the foreign minister said that Ukrainian resilience and tactical adaptability, matched with continued Western support of ammunition and advanced defence systems, could change the course of the war.

"Russia has suffered serious losses in Ukraine and the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy is growing constantly. It is possible to force Russia to change course if we continue providing military support to Ukraine and pressuring Russia by imposing sanctions and putting frozen assets into use," Tsahkna said, adding that an important element of Ukraine's victory strategy is the continued perspective of Ukraine's NATO and European Union membership. "If Russia does not give up its objective of destroying Ukraine and dismantling the current Euro-Atlantic security architecture, it is impossible to achieve lasting peace in Europe."

Speaking on a panel on energy transition, the foreign minister noted the need to defend critical land and submarine infrastructure. "The recent Estlink 2 case in the Baltic Sea demonstrated the need to be prepared for a better defence of energy carriers and for speedier repairs," Tsahkna underlined.

He also had several bilateral meetings in Davos, including with the Foreign Minister of Jordan Ayman Safadi and European Commission's Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos. An important element of the Davos programme is participation in the House of Collaboration event created by an Estonian company that brings together more than 100 business, political and academic leaders.