The 18th Annual Baltic Conference on Defence (ABCD), “Preparing for an Uncertain Future: A Brave Europe in a Dangerous New World,” starts today in Tallinn. This year’s focus is on Europe’s defence capabilities in the current perilous global security environment.
The list of distinguished speakers includes Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur, and Commander of the Defence Forces Major General Andrus Merilo, Commander of the Lithuanian Defence Forces General Raimundas Vaikšnoras, Deputy Minister of Defence for Digitalisation of Ukraine Kateryņa Chernohorenko, Chief of the Israeli Reserve Forces Benjamin Ben Ari, EEAS Deputy Secretary General for Peace, Security and Defence Charles Fries, and Director of NATO’s Defence Planning Department Karl Ford.
“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has rapidly worsened the transatlantic security environment and revealed a harsh reality of Europe’s defence arrangements: a conventional full-scale war is real and possible, but Europe may not be ready for it,” says Indrek Kannik, Director of the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS).
Nele Loorents, Director of the ABCD, adds that one of the important topics of discussion today is the strengthening of NATO’s collective deterrence and defence posture in order to resist Russian aggression and defeat Russia on the battlefield if necessary. “NATO’s rising capability requirements are a challenge for the European Allies and their defence industries. More defence investments are needed, and so are creative solutions. The EU too has a role to play in increasing readiness. One key question is speed: what should Europe be doing right now to defend itself?”
More than 200 guests will attend the Conference on 24-25 September at the Nordic Hotel Forum (Viru väljak 3, Tallinn). The agenda can be found at https://abcd.icds.ee/
The Annual Baltic Conference on Defence is organised by the ICDS with the Estonian Ministry of Defence in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The main partner of this year’s conference is DefSecIntel. The event is also supported by Milrem Robotics, Tangen Link, SensusQ, Diehl Defence, KNDS, IAI, Nammo, General Dynamics Corp, Helsing, EuroSpike and Sorainen.