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President Ilves: NATO must be innovative in its defence

03.04.2008

In Bucharest yesterday, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves spoke at a conference of Young Atlanticists. The Head of State spoke about Estonia’s experiences in joining NATO, the future and enlargement of the alliance, as well as new security threats.

“NATO’s enlargement has never been directed against any state, but is a security policy expression of liberal democracy and effectuation of the rule of law,” President Ilves said.

Speaking of new security risks in the field of energy and cybersecurity, the Head of State stressed that the nature of the new risks assumes new countermeasures from NATO. “Missiles are no longer needed to shut down infrastructure; this can be achieved in cyberspace. Therefore, we must be innovative in our defence.”

In addition to President Ilves, the speakers at the event included NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer; General John Craddock, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR); Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende; and Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, among others.

On Wednesday, President Ilves also spoke at “The Bucharest Conference” organized by the renowned German Marshall Fund, where the current role of Article 5 of the NATO Charter was discussed along with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacani, former SACEUR General Joseph Ralston, and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

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