NATO has successfully worked as a military-political organisation for six decades uniting European and North-American countries.

Estonia’s contribution to the further strengthening of NATO includes participation in NATO collective defence planning, participation in NATO military operations and rotations of the NATO Response Force (NRF), hosting the NATO Centre of Excellence for Co-operative Cyber Defence, assuring air policing in Estonia’s airspace in co-operation with our allies, supporting NATO enlargement, as well as wider partnership processes, etc.

NATO has been successful in solving security problems through partnership and enlargement. Before acceding to NATO in 2004, Estonia acquired valuable experiences from the NATO integrating process by taking part in different NATO partnership programmes (PfP, PARP, Intensified Dialogue, MAP, etc.). Now the experiences are being successfully shared with several other NATO partner countries; the support of the NATO aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine serve as the best examples of acting as a donor country.


European Security and Defence Policy
Apart from a common economic area, the European Union has also established a common security space for its Member States. The participation in the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) has offered Estonia better co-operation alternatives for joint procurement, defence-related research and development activities, and co-ordinating capabilities development between the EU Member States. Estonia has participated in EU-led peace support operations in the Balkan countries. Estonia’s participation in the Nordic Battle Group, kept in readiness during the first half of 2008, is also worth mentioning as, besides contributing to the rapid response capabilities of the EU, this has also allowed Estonia to gain valuable experiences on defence-related co-operation with Sweden, Finland, Norway and Ireland.


Bi-lateral defence relations
Aside from the co-operation within the NATO and the European Union framework, Estonia is also developing bi-lateral and regional relations with strategic partner states. Above all, close relations with the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark) and the Baltic states should be mentioned. As small countries that are located close to each other and share similar historical experiences, it often makes sense for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to join forces and develop defence-related joint projects. One of the most successful examples of Baltic co-operation has proven to be the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, and there are also other examples of productive projects from the Air Force and the Navy. One of the largest projects, currently in process, is the battalion combined by the three Baltic states for participation in the NATO Response Force (NRF) in 2010. The Baltic states also have a common interest in policing their own airspace – currently, this is exercised by NATO allies; however, in the long-term, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania wish to increase their contribution and are currently considering various alternatives for finding a long-term air policing solution. In the framework of the Nordic-Baltic Initiative for Regional Defence Co-operation, Estonia is closely co-ordinating defence assistance projects in Ukraine and the Western Balkans.

Estonia has established bi-lateral defence relations with approximately 35 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. Estonia has appointed residing Defence Attachés to Finland, Poland, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Georgia and Russia. In addition, Estonia employs defence policy counsellors in Paris, Kiev, Washington and Kabul, who mediate co-operation projects between both the ministries and the armed forces.

Both bi-lateral and regional international defence-related co-operation includes a large variety of activities, aimed at achieving greater mutual understanding and interoperability between the countries and their armed forces, as well as leading to a more efficient use of resources. Such co-operation includes both the active co-ordination of defence political positions and co-operation in the sphere of training, military education and procurement. The implementation of defence reforms in developing countries (discussed in Chapter 10) by co-ordinating the assistance projects with both the beneficiaries and other donor countries represents another element of international co-operation.