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"Estonian MP stresses need to carry out Wales summit decisions at meeting with NATO chief", BNS, 20 November 2014

20.11.2014

TALLINN, Nov 20, BNS - Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas met with NATO's new secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday and stressed the need to carry out decisions made at the NATO summit in Wales.

At the meeting at Estonia's Amari air base Roivas said that Russia's activity in the region is worrying and there is no doubt that the aim of that is to test NATO's readiness, spokespeople for the government said. Meeting of the North Atlantic Council which took place in September sent out a clear signal that NATO is united and will do everything for no-one to even think about threatening a member state with war, Roivas said.

"Our task is to quickly carry out the NATO Readiness Action Plan approved by heads of state and government of member states at the NATO summit in Wales with which NATO will continue and increase its presence in the alliance's border states, including in Estonia," the prime minister said.

He added that for Estonia it is mainly important to strengthen three military capabilities -- the presence of allies, the response time of troops which would be provided by preplaced equipment and weapons, and harmonization of NATO's defense plans with the security situation.

Roivas told Stoltenberg that Estonia is committed to developing its national defense and we will continue to contribute 2 percent of the gross domestic product to national defense.

Stoltenberg will meet on Thursday with President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Defense Minister Sven Mikser and commander of the defense forces Maj. Gen. Riho Terras.

At the meetings the security situation in Europe, strengthening NATO's deterrence stand and issues concerning the Ukraine-Russia conflict will be discussed.

Stoltenberg will also meet with Estonian, U.S. and German soldiers at the Amari air base as well as visit the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn.