"It was a great pleasure to visit Sweden as a NATO ally for the first time and to personally convey Estonia's congratulations," the minster said, via a press release.

The minister made his remarks while on an official visit to Sweden this week – the first by an existing NATO member state's defense minister since Sweden joined NATO officially, last week.

"Thanks to Sweden's accession to NATO, the Baltic Sea and the Nordic-Baltic region are now better protected, while our flank is also more secure," he continued. "Bilateral defense cooperation between Estonia and Sweden has historically been very strong, and our joint membership in NATO will certainly add new opportunities for further cooperation. Given Sweden's significant air and naval capabilities, the Baltic Sea's maritime and airways are now more securely open and defended."

During his visit to Sweden Wednesday, continuing today, Thursday, Defense Minister Pevkur met with his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson, in order to discuss defense cooperation in the Baltic Sea region with the new NATO ally and 32nd member state.

DefMin @HPevkur met DefMin @PlJonson in #Sweden to talk defence cooperation with newest #NATO Ally. As innovation-minded states, there are many opportunities to explore in / defence industry cooperation.#WeAreNATO #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/ODKhBHpYPr

— MoD Estonia (@MoD_Estonia) March 13, 2024

Minister Pevkur also visited the Karlskrona naval base, the Swedish Navy's (Svenska marinen) largest base, at Blekinge, in the South of the country, and the nearby Saab Kockums shipyard took part in defense industry business seminars, and opened an Estonian honorary consulate in the tow.

The goal of the Estonian-Swedish defense industry business seminars held in Karlskrona and in the capital, Stockholm, jointly organized by Enterprise Estonia (EAS) and the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was to facilitate cooperation between the defense industries of the two nations.

"Estonia's innovative and tech-focused defense industry has a lot to offer our Swedish colleagues, and I believe that as a result of business seminars, we will soon see the launch of new Estonian-Swedish defense industry cooperation projects and investments," Pevkur continued.

The Estonian defense minister also participated in the formal opening of a new Estonian honorary consulate premises in Karlskrona, accompanied by Estonian Ambassador to Sweden Toomas Lukk, and met with the new honorary consul, Paula Ening.

The minister took a trip on board the Swedish navy's Visby-class corvette, the Karlstad, and also boarded a CB90-class fast assault craft and learned about the construction and modernization of Sweden's submarines, at the Saab shipbuilding facility.

From 2027, the Swedish Navy starts to take delivery of Blekinge-class submarines. These, like their predecessors, are diesel-electric, rather than nuclear-powered subs. While the latter variants are usually larger and can stay submerged for far longer periods of time and move at higher speeds, the diesel-electric variants have the advantage of being practically silent when moving underwater. Moreover, the Baltic Sea is generally too shallow for the practical use of nuclear submarines, such as those used by the Russian Navy.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!