Antti Kaikkonen, the Defence Minister of Finland, visited the European Defence Agency on 11 November where he was welcomed by Chief Executive Jorge Domecq. The Minister was accompanied by the Defence Political Director, Janne Kuusela, as well as other officials from the MoD.
A wide range of topics related to European defence cooperation were discussed, including the state of play on the EU defence initiatives (CARD, PESCO, EDF), the importance of ensuring their coherent and efficient implementation, as well as the need for Member States to embed them into their national defence planning in order to reach the goal of a more coherent, efficient and interoperable European defence landscape.
Finland’s role and participation in EDA projects were also discussed during the visit. Minister Kaikkonen was presented with detailed updates on several ongoing projects including the air-to-air refuelling Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) or the Agency’s work related to governmental satellite communication (GovSatCom) and the EU Satellite Communication Market (EU SatCom Market).