Estonia Signs Security of Supply Arrangement with the United States

Last week, Magnus-Valdemar Saar, the Director-General of the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment (ECDI), and Dr. William A. LaPlante, the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, signed a bilateral agreement at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The Arrangement aims to strengthen mutual defence and security cooperation in ensuring supply security.

The Arrangement is based on a principle of mutual voluntariness and allows both countries to prioritize the fulfillment of defence contracts to ensure the timely and efficient availability of urgent and critical supplies.

“In today’s security and economic environment, a continuous supply chain is central to ensuring military defence. It’s gratifying to see that member states are cooperating closely to enhance supply security. This gives us confidence that all our recent major capability procurement projects will be timely delivered to our defence forces,” said ECDI Director-General Magnus-Valdemar Saar.

“This is another example of the United States and Estonia’s great cooperation and commitment to mutual defence. It also underscores the planning and active approach the Estonian government takes to prepare its defence to address security concerns,” said George P. Kent, the U.S. Ambassador to Estonia.

The Arrangement provides an opportunity to strengthen cooperation in the procurement of defence equipment and ensures the supply security of military materials and equipment both in times of peace and crisis. It also makes it possible to obtain more detailed information about the production schedules and supply plans for equipment and its components, which in turn provides the opportunity to prioritize more essential supplies over other orders if necessary.

Estonia is the fourteenth supply security arrangement partner of the United States. Other partners include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

 

Additional information:

Hanna Rotmeister
Press Officer
[email protected]