President Kaljulaid talks NATO, e-services with Portugal defense minister
President Kersti Kaljulaid met Portugal's defense minister, João Gomes Cravinho, at Kadriorg on Tuesday. The pair focused on Estonian-Portuguese co-operation in NATO, which both countries are members of.
President Kaljulaid said Estonia relies on Portugal's knowledge and experience in risk factors in the southern European region, the president's office said via a press release, and expressed hope that the reverse is the case regarding Estonia's position in its own region.
European security and digital cooperation were also on the table.
Portuguese air force (Força Aérea Portuguesa) jets have flown from Šiauliai in Lithuania on four separate rotations, as part of the NATO Baltic air policing duties, and the Estonian president welcomed Portugal to do the same from Ämari.
Regarding the digital sphere, the two countries are actively cooperating in the areas of e-elections, e-health and e-residency.
The global situation including in the West African country of Mali, where Estonia contributes an infantry platoon towards the French-led Operation Barkhane counter-terrorism initiative, the resurgent Armenia-Azerbaijan hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the situation in Belarus were also topics discussed.
Estonia joined NATO in 2004; Portugal was one of the original 1949 founder member states.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
