"Today I am glad to reaffirm longstanding excellent bilateral relations between Estonia and Sweden," Reinsalu said according to a ministry press release. "The Estonian-Swedish Cooperation Fund, which was established last year and to which Estonia recently decided to contribute financially, will further strengthen our bilateral relations and take them to a new level."

The Estonian minister added that he had the chance on Tuesday to thank the Swedish ministry for advancing the fund.

He also highlighted the fact that Sweden was the first foreign country to open its representation in Estonia in 1989, a fact that is being celebrated together in Tallinn on Tuesday. Since the establishment of the Swedish representation, active cooperation has been pursued in trade, defense as well as digital and cyber affairs.

"Sweden is our close partner in the EU and the UN, where we also received a lot of support from Sweden in our campaign for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council," Reinsalu added.

At their meeting, Reinsalu informed Linde of the Estonian government's decision to apply for observer status on the Arctic Council. Estonian interests in the Arctic are related primarily to research, the economy, climate as well as security, the ministry noted.

He also invited his Swedish colleague to attend the September 2020 meetings of foreign ministers of the Nordic-Baltic cooperation format (NB8), which will be coordinated by Estonia.

The two ministers are to attend an event at the Swedish Embassy celebrating the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Tallinn representation.

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