NATO’s Eastern Flank foreign ministers discuss security in Europe, future of the Alliance and new strategic concept

Today 27 October, Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets welcomed the foreign ministers of the Bucharest Nine cooperation platform (B9) or NATO's Eastern Flank in Tallinn, with the discussion focusing on Euro-Atlantic security, implementing the decisions of the recent NATO summit and preparing the Alliance's next strategic concept.

The meeting also looked at the upcoming meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Riga in late November and the summit in Madrid next summer. "The Allies are facing many conventional as well as new threats and we must be able to address them accordingly. NATO's next strategic concept, which is currently being developed, will provide the Alliance with up-to-date strategic guidelines on several new global issues that concern the security of all Allies, while its main focus will remain on the Euro-Atlantic area. Additionally, the challenges that are very important for our region traditionally concern credible deterrence, reinforcing our defence capabilities and improving collective defence," Foreign Minister Liimets said.

On the subject of the guidelines of NATO's next strategic concept, the ministers underlined that when boosting collective defence, NATO needed to address new challenges, including China, emerging technologies, cyber and hybrid and the security impact of climate change. Professor Mart Noorma, member of the NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, spoke about challenging new technologies that are becoming increasingly important in NATO's activities.

The ministers expressed solidarity with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in the face of the hybrid crisis organised by Belarusian authorities and talked about NATO's successful open door policy of enlargement.

The Bucharest Nine platform was launched in 2015 with the aim of holding discussions on security interests and informal consultations between its nine members - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Traditionally, the meetings also include representatives of the United States and NATO.

Photos (Raigo Pajula)

The press conference is available for subsequent viewing on the Foreign Ministry's YouTube channel.

Additional information:
Kristina Ots
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Media Adviser
Communication Department
[email protected]
www.vm.ee