Cooperation between Estonia and Australia helps to strengthen both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, the minister went on.

Tsahkna made his remarks while on an official visit to Australia this week, which included a meeting with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.

This was the first time an Estonian foreign minister had visited Australia in an official capacity for around a decade.

"Despite the great distance, Estonia and Australia are united by a shared understanding of the importance of the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is why Australia has taken a clear position regarding Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," Tsahkna said.

"Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression, Australia has supported Ukraine militarily and, together with New Zealand, they are the only non-NATO countries contributing to NATO's military assistance initiative PURL, and Australia is participating in working out security guarantees for Ukraine. Australia has also imposed strong sanctions against Russia," the minister went on via a press release. "Australia understands that changing borders by force anywhere in the world also affects its own security."

The two foreign ministers also discussed the closely interconnected security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, developments in the Middle East, cyber cooperation, the launch of a special tribunal and cooperation in the area of critical raw materials, as well as the protection of critical underwater infrastructure and the deterrence of the shadow fleet.

After a 10-year pause, we put the embassy team to the test with a foreign minister's visit to Australia.

Mission accomplished — hats off to @AmbJaanReinhold and his small but mighty team in Canberra, and to colleagues at @MFAestonia in Tallinn who contributed. https://t.co/QfIKngqh7O pic.twitter.com/sFNA7xm5K6

— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) March 13, 2026

While in Canberra, Tsahkna also met Australia's Assistant Minister for Defence Peter Khalil, discussing the military lessons to be drawn from Russia's aggression against Ukraine and NATO cooperation with Australia and other Indo-Pacific partners.

"Estonia and Australia share a similar understanding that investment in strengthening defense and deterrence is an investment in peace, and that contributing to support for Ukraine also strengthens the security of those who provide that support," Tsahkna said.

The meeting also addressed launching the special tribunal to hold the Russian leadership accountable for the crime of aggression and the threat posed to the internal security of Western countries by Russian fighters.

As for critical raw materials, Tsahkna discussed this with Australia's Trade Minister Don Farrell. The need to ensure diversified supply chains and uninterrupted access to strategic resources was highlighted. "We proposed establishing a working group to strengthen cooperation in the field of critical raw materials," Tsahkna added, and also expressed hope that the EU and Australia would soon reach an agreement on a free trade deal.

While in Canberra, the foreign minister also met Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick, chair of the parliament's Estonia friendship group Senator Deborah O'Neill and members of the friendship group, as well as the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Ralph Neumann, plus members of the committee.

Tsahkna also delivered a keynote address at the conference "Drones in Modern Warfare: Lessons Learnt from the War in Ukraine," highlighting the lessons of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"Ukraine is increasingly becoming not only a country that requires support, but one that itself contributes to ensuring the security of other countries," Tsahkna noted, at a time when Ukrainian know-how in how to counter Iranian Shahed-type drones, also made under license in Russia, is very much of interest to the Western allies.

He also laid a wreath at the national war memorial.

Tsahkna visited Sydney during this week's official visit too, laying a wreath at the site of the December 14, 2025 terror attack at Bondi Beach, which killed X people. He visited the Estonian House, hub of the Australian-Estonian community.

Australia was an important destination for Estonians fleeing the Soviet occupation from the end of World War Two, and as well as visiting the Estonian archives at the Estonian House, Tsahkna was presented with an Estonian flag saved from Soviet forces during the war, which had stayed with the Estonian diaspora there for 80 years, and will now be brought home to Estonia.

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