Foreign Minister Tsahkna to NRW's Minister-President: We are moving forward with specific defence cooperation
Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
18.02.2025
On 17 and 18 February, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna is joined by a business delegation on a visit to the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), where the agenda today included a meeting with the state's Minister-President Hendrik Wüst to discuss specific steps to boost defence cooperation between Estonia and NRW.
"Germany is the engine of Europe's economy and Estonian companies have many smart solutions for keeping this engine running. Through the cooperation of Estonian and German companies, it is possible to build a strong and competitive European economy characterised by digitalisation, new technologies and innovation," Tsahkna said.
However, he noted that successful economic cooperation is based on security.
"The greatest challenge and most crucial objective right now is to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine and Europe. It is also clear that we need to boost Europe's deterrence and defence posture, and this requires increased defence spending on the one hand, and increased production capabilities of the defence industry on the other," Tsahkna said.
Yesterday opens in a new tab , he and members of the business delegation met with Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall, and discussed ways of ensuring better conditions for German defence industry companies bringing their production to Estonia.
Today, Tsahkna met with the president of the State Parliament André Kuper; Landtag member Ralf Schwarzkopf; Ralf Stoffels, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of NRW; Elena Matekina, representative of NRW.Global Business, and Harald Cremer, representative of the defence industry cluster; and Katherina Reiche, CEO of Westenergie AG.
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