Minister of Climate Yoko Alender (Reform) said: "The underwater energy systems connecting Estonia and Finland are critical for the energy security of both countries."

"The memorandum is a joint step towards a stable and secure energy future. We agree on clear directions for cooperation to ensure the competitiveness, resilience, and security of both countries' energy sectors, as well as a stable electricity price," Alender went on.

Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine has fundamentally changed the security environment in Finland and Europe for the long term.

Changes in the security environment are naturally also reflected in the Baltic Sea, given Russia has a small Baltic coastline around St. Petersburg and also off the Kaliningrad exclave.

Finland and Estonia thus consider it necessary to further improve the surveillance and resilience of the underwater gas and electricity infrastructure connecting the countries.

This would be achieved by increasing cooperation and sharing best practices in order to monitor and protect the infrastructure in developing ways. Improving the capacity for transmission connection repairs is also a natural area of cooperation.

"The energy relations between Finland and Estonia are important for both. We have had excellent cooperation and we will intensify it now with regard to underwater energy connections," Finland's Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen

The Ministry of Climate and Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on Friday signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning the protection and repair of underwater energy infrastructure.

The MoU's purpose is to outline structures in which Finland and Estonia can develop their cooperation on the monitoring and repair of underwater energy infrastructure connections.

The Balticconnector gas pipeline, damaged in October 2023, has been repaired but its vulnerability remains a concern.

When it was ruptured, an incident thought to be caused by the trailing anchor of a Hong Kong-flagged Chinese cargo vessel, two communications cables were also damaged, one running between Estonia and Finland, the other between Estonia and Sweden.

Two submarine power cables between the countries (Estlink 1 and Estlink 2) are also located under the Gulf of Finland.

These transmission connections are an essential part of the energy markets and security of energy supply in Finland and Estonia, and they serve to iron out price fluctuations.

During his state visit to Estonia in May, new Finnish President Alexander Stubb also discussed the protection of underwater infrastructure connecting the countries with the Estonians.

Following this, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment launched preparatory work to draft an MoU with the Estonian Ministry of Climate.

The Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs were also consulted during the preparation of the MoU.

The Underwater Energy Infrastructure MoU was signed by Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen and Estonia's Minister of Climate Yoko Alender in Helsinki on Friday.

The MoU aims to define a non-legally binding framework for developing cooperation between the countries.

It may for instance examine existing monitoring and security measures to ensure the protection of underwater energy infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, and improve the exchange of information, cooperation between experts and researchers and sharing of technological knowledge.

A joint steering group of the countries will continue the work.

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