18-11-2009
Yesterday, Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo attended the meeting of EU Defence Ministers in Brussels which concentrated on EU’s anti-piracy naval operation Atalanta and EU’s broader involvement in Somalia.
The meeting discussed EU’s activity to train the Somali security forces and approved EU’s crisis management concept for a possible new training mission which will allow, if needed, for the planning of the training of the security forces of the Somali transitional government.
According to Aaviksoo, EU’s activity in Somalia to date may be considered a success in general. “Military vessels of different member states regularly sail the Somali waters and this has reduced the number of piracy incidents significantly. Also, Somalia has proven a successful example of EU’s cooperation with other international organisations,” Aaviksoo said. Estonian participation in the Atalanta operation is being considered in the long term perspective.
The meeting also discussed the development of the military capabilities of the European Union, took note of the 2009 annual report of the European Defence Agency (EDA), issued guidelines and approved the 2010 budget.
The joint meeting of EU Foreign and Defence Ministers concentrated primarily on the Althea operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the possible transformation of the operation into a training mission was the principal issue.
Yesterday evening, Aaviksoo attended a meeting of EU Foreign and Defence Ministers with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen which stressed the need to contribute various civil programmes in addition to military capabilities in Afghanistan.