Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press release 55/2022
12 December 2022
President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö will attend a meeting of Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) leaders in Riga on Monday, 19 December.
The topics of discussion will be Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and European security. Representatives from all ten countries involved in JEF defence cooperation have been invited to the meeting, which will be hosted by Krišjānis Kariņš, Prime Minister of Latvia, and Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, which leads the JEF cooperation. Before the JEF meeting, President Niinistö’s programme also includes a bilateral meeting with President of Latvia Egils Levits.
The previous meeting of JEF leaders was held in London in March 2022.
JEF is a UK-led multilateral framework for defence cooperation formed by ten countries: in addition to the United Kingdom and Finland, the group includes the Netherlands, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. The goal is to develop the military capabilities of the participating countries through joint exercises, prevent various crises and, if necessary, act together in crisis situations. JEF’s main operating environment is Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region.