TALLINN, Oct 13, BNS - Estonia has to continue a value-based foreign policy that is much more important than possible economic interests, the head of government said in his opening remarks at the higher national defense courses today.
In military terms, security increasingly depends on countering nonconventional threats, Andrus Ansip said.
"We are not at war, but we have to fight on a daily basis for our reputation, for our history and for the choices we made in the early 1990s," he said.
Speaking about national defense policy, the prime minister said Estonia has considerably improved its defense capability over the last few years, singling out the development of the Mistral air defense system.
In Ansip's words, the collective defense principle of NATO stands as firm today as previously. "Independent defense capability is an essential prerequisite of collective defense, but we have no reason to doubt that our NATO partners will come to our aid when necessary," he said.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8862, sise@bns.ee
