"Estonia and the United Kingdom are in any case strong allies in NATO and our economic cooperation has to be close in the post-Brexit world as well," Sester said after Friday's meeting that took place on the sidelines of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in Malta.

"The Brexit negotiations are yet to come and they will concern one of our presidency's priorities, the EU budget. The talks will definitely not be easy, but we'll approach them constructively and in a spirit of cooperation."

Sester met also with the chairman of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Roberto Gualtieri, with whom he spoke about cooperation during Estonia's presidency period.

"The presiding country leads on behalf of the EU Council the so-called trilogue talks over legislative initiatives in which a compromise has to be reached among member states, the European Commission and the parliament," Sester said. "Among the key issues we'll probably be negotiating are different initiatives to reinforce the EU's financial sector, that is, questions related to the full functioning of the banking union."