During an 8 November meeting between Estonian Minister of Defense Jaak Aaviksoo and Swedish Minister of Defense Sten Tolgfors, cooperation between the European Union and NATO, the future and reforms of the NATO Response Forces (NRF) and current military operations were discussed.

The ministers also dealt with issues of cyber security. Both parties stressed that international co-operation, especially between international information security networks, is very important due to the lack of boundaries between networks. A good example of such co-operation is the assistance of Swedish experts in the successful deterring of co-ordinated cyber attacks aimed at Estonia last spring, and the exchange of experiences with Swedish experts for the development of Estonia’s cyber security strategy.

Mr. Aaviksoo also visited the Swedish Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) as part of his visit; one function of SEMA is to co-ordinate the activities of different institutions in the sphere of cyber security.