Visit of the newly appointed Estonian Minister of Defence, H.E. Mr Mart Laar

On the 17th of May, the Baltic Defence College had the pleasure to welcome the newly appointed Estonian Minister of Defence, H.E. Mr Mart Laar.

Mr Laar was visiting the Spring Storm in Southern Estonia and also came to the Baltic Defence College and the Estonian National Defence College. The Commandant of BALTDEFCOL, BG Meelis Kiili together with some members of the Staff gave the Minister an overview of the College, after which they all headed to the Main Hall for Mr Laar to give a speech to the students and staff of both institutions on the topic “Future of Regional Defence Cooperation“. In his speech, the Minister of Defence encouraged the Baltic States to improve their cooperation with each other, but also with other countries like with those from Nordic region and the US. He also stressed the relevance of cooperation regarding cyber-defence.

After the speech the Minister had a meeting with the Commandant of the College, BG Meelis Kiili. They discussed the topic of finding the necessary lecturers to the BALTDEFCOL and the Minister offered his support for that and also agreed to be the main keynote speaker at the ISMS Conference hosted by the BALTDEFCOL in November. The Minister also met with the head of Estonian National Defence College  Col Aarne Ermus and had a briefing about the ENDC.