Visit by Swedish Minister of Defence

On the 7th of Feb, the Baltic Defence College had the pleasure to welcome the Swedish Minister of Defence, H.E. Mr Sten Tolgfors, and Estonian Minister of Defence, H.E. Mr Jaak Aaviksoo and their delegations. Mr Tolgfors was on a one-day work visit to Tartu and also came to the BALTDEFCOL to meet the Commandant of the College, BG Meelis Kiili, and to give a speech to the College students on the topic „Sweden’s New Defence“.

Then the ministers signed a bilateral cooperation agreement between Estonia and Sweden. The agreement determines the main directions and priorities of the defence cooperation between Estonia and Sweden, the most relevant being cooperation in procurements, education and training of the members of the Defence Forces, and exchange of information concerning development of abilities. They also discussed the future of the BALTDEFCOL and the possibility of it becoming an institution of defence education in the region of Northern Europe, which would provide higher military education to officers from the NATO, European Union, as well as partner countries.

After the meeting of the ministers and delegations, BG Meelis Kiili gave the ministers and the delegations a brief on the BALTDEFCOL.