Official press releases, news and speeches that the minister has held are located in this section. The Ministry of Defence publishes all of its press releases and news in Finnish and Swedish and many of them in English, too.
Press Releases
Finland to lead Naval Mines Cooperation
In July 2024, the Defence Ministers of Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Finland signed a Letter of Intent on Naval Mines Cooperation Baltic Sea.
Naval Mines Cooperation aims to strengthen the collective defence and explore practical opportunities for cooperation in the procurement, logistics and operation of naval mine weapon systems.
The Finnish Navy has maintained a high level of expertise and developed consistently the different aspects of naval mines capability. Since the Letter of Intent, Finland has taken the lead role in Naval Mines Cooperation.
“Cooperation around the naval mine warfare is in the interest of Finland and our allies operating in and around the Baltic Sea. We have recognised that by sharing our own know-how, we will strengthen our allies, but our own defence as well”, says Finnish Minister of Defence Mr. Antti Häkkänen.
Now a Framework Arrangement (FA) for setting the scope for the NMC has been signed by Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Poland. The FA will enable joint procurements, navy-navy cooperation, logistics and life cycle management, exercises and training, exchange of information and development of the naval mine weapon systems.
A joint procurement of the Blocker Influence Sea Mine System under Finland's leadership is also planned within the NMC framework. The joint procurement is being prepared by Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and Norway.
Minister Häkkänen considers joint procurement opportunities promising: “Finnish industry has world class products and know-how that interests our allies. Exploring opportunities for joint procurement is one possible area of cooperation, and we have been preparing a joint procurement of Blocker Sea Mines already.”
Enquiries: Eemeli Peltonen, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 140 125; Rami Keinänen, Program Manager, Navy Command, tel. +358 299 303 545.