Finland, Sweden interested in participating in cyber defense center

29.02.2008

Estonia's representative in the cyber defense center lead committee, Defense Ministry adviser Johannes Kert told BNS some countries that do not belong to the alliance are interested in taking part in the work of the future NATO Center of Excellence in Cyber Defense. In his words, some Nordic countries are among them. Kert explained that those countries would like to participate on the level of experts.

Of Nordic countries, Finland and Sweden are not members of the alliance.

The concept of NATO centers of excellence includes a procedure for taking aboard non-members, Kert observed. "I hope Finland will be welcome when the time is ripe for this," he said.

Finland is one of the countries that willy-nilly helped Estonia to get ready for entry into NATO and the European Union, Kert noted, adding that it would therefore be silly of Estonia to not welcome them.

Some countries which earlier had announced they were not interested in the cyber defense center appear to have changed their minds lately, Kert added.

Preparations for setting up the center are proceeding to plan, he stated.

"We are on schedule and I don't see any particular problems right now," he said.

According to current plans, the cyber defense center should be fully operational in the second half of this year. By that time also the specialists sent by participating nations will have arrived in Estonia. An international agreement is supposed to be signed in May.

The tentative plan is for the center to have about 20 jobs, with the final number to depend on the agreement between the participating countries and their possibilities.

The preconditions for the accreditation of the center of excellence are official participation in it by three alliance member states and the signing of an agreement.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8814, sise@bns.ee