2018
Minister of Defence Niinistö to the Hague and Brussels
Minister of Defence Jussi Niinistö will travel to the Netherlands and Belgium on 6 to 8 June to take part in the Northern Group meeting in The Hague and NATO’s meeting for Ministers of Defence in Brussels.
On Wednesday 6 June, Minister Niinistö will attend the Northern Group’s working meeting that will be held in The Hague. The meeting will address the security situation in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic, international exercises, military mobility and national defence policy guidelines. Apart from the Nordic countries and the Baltic States, the Northern Group consists of the Netherlands, Great Britain, Poland and Germany.
On Thursday 7 June, Minister Niinistö will give a speech at the symposium "Military Mobility - Key to European Security", organised by the European Defence Agency (EDA) to discuss military mobility. The entire speech will be available on 7 June at 14.00 here: www.defmin.fi/puheet. Minister Niinistö will also take part in the framework nation meeting, led by Germany, which will address the development of European defence capabilities and NATO-EU cooperation.
On Friday 8 June, he will attend NATO’s meeting for Ministers of Defence in Brussels where the ministers will discuss the overall security situation and cooperation between NATO and the EU. He will also take part in the Resolute Support Mission meeting where, in addition to NATO member countries, representatives from the other countries participating in the operation in Afghanistan have been invited. Minister Niinistö will also attend a separate meeting of the coalition against ISIS (D-ISIS), led by the United States, where the progress of the coalition’s crisis-management operation will be discussed.
Inquiries: on the Northern Group meeting, Special Adviser Johanna Hämäläinen, tel. +358 295 140 086; on the framework nation meeting, Special Adviser Erkki Aalto, tel. +358 295 140 312; on the NATO’s meeting for ministers of defence, Special Adviser Outi Nieminen, tel. +358 295 140 079; and Senior Advisor Kristian Vakkuri on communications, tel. +358 295 140123.