At the beginning of the meeting, Biden thanked Estonia for good alliedrelations and recognised the Estonian people for their dedication to securityand for allocating two percent of GDP to national defence. Estoniasets an example for many other NATO allies, Biden said.
Prime Minister Rõivas emphasised that the long-term presence ofU.S. troops in Estonia is extremely necessary as a sign of NATOstrength and U.S. dedication. “The Estonian government has made a fundamentaldecision to keep defence spending at the agreed upon level, andwith the additional costs for hosting allied troops, this means thatnext year defence spending will total more than two percent of GDP,” hesaid.
The Prime Minister assured the Vice President Biden thatEstonia is taking steps to increase its energy independence. Biden praisedEstonia and Finland for its productive cooperation related to increasing energyindependence in Europe.
Next week’s meeting of the European Council and the topics on the agenda werealso discussed. Biden confirmed that the U.S. is ready to institute additionalsanctions. Rõivas expressed support for this. Both Biden and Rõivas confirmed that the U.S. and the European Union willcontinue to support Ukraine both politically and financially.
Speaking about the economic relations between the U.S. and Estonia, Bidenpraised Estonia’s IT development and thanked Estonia for Skype, which he usesevery day to communicate with this family.
After his meeting with Biden, Rõivas headed to the Capitol to meetwith John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives. After that Rõivas gave a speech at theAtlantic Council think tank.
The Prime Minister is visiting the U.S. with a business delegation todevelop economic and security-related cooperation between the countries. Hewill arrive back in Estonia on the evening of December 14th.
More information:Tiina Ansip
Government Communication Unit
+372 53030446
[email protected]
valitsus.ee