OREANDA-NEWS. NITEC'16, the high-level NATO co-operation conference taking place in Tallinn this week, will bring together in Estonia 500 top leaders of the defence sphere, representatives of the governments of various states, heads and leaders of armed forces and defence industry enterprises, and security and defence specialists.

NITEC is the most important annual event of NATO's Communication and Information Agency (NCI) and the association of communication, electronics and information system specialists, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA Europe). This is an annual top summit, which aims to promote entrepreneurship opportunities between NATO allies, mainly in the IT and cyber defence sectors.

The NITEC'16 conference will be opened by the President of the Republic, Toomas Hendrik Ilves. According to the President, Estonia is the best example in the world for co-operation between the public and private sector in organising cyber defence and launching new, innovative technology companies.

"State institutions and private entrepreneurs share an understanding and sensitivity of the importance of cyber issues and the opportunities offered by co-operation in this sphere that is aimed at searching for and finding solutions," said the Head of State. "Just as we need international partnership and a coalition of democratic countries, we also need a domestic partnership between the public sector and business world."

The conference is a reflection of the NATO Summit in Warsaw and will include addresses by several leaders of the defence sphere and co-operation forum. It is the first time that Estonia is hosting such a high-level event.

The first day of the conference will consist of NATO's Industry Strategic Dialogue Day, involving a discussion between high-level decision makers and leaders in the sector on the challenges faced by the alliance today and in the future. The main focus will be given to the development of strategic relationships with small and medium sized enterprises.

The second and the third day will focus on co-operation opportunities. The forum will include discussions on recent technological developments, business opportunities related to NATO C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and capability priorities.

For the first time, the conference will also include a number of goal-oriented initiatives and one-to-one meetings with NATO decision makers, programme leaders and employees. Participants will be given information on access to NATO-related business opportunities and programmes and the establishment of partnerships.