Estonia

Political relations

Bilateral relations between France and Estonia are strong and there is regular political dialogue. A declaration on the strategic partnership between France and Estonia was signed by the President of the French Republic and the Estonian Prime Minister on 28 October 2020. In addition, a roadmap for the 2021-2025 period was signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs on 9 June 2021. It sets out the areas for development in our relationship. France has been a member of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn since 2014, and two members of French personnel are seconded there. A bilateral technical arrangement was signed in the area of cyber defence in 2016. A French combined arms battlegroup was deployed in Estonia as part of NATO’s eFP from March to December 2017, from April to December 2019, and from March 2021 for one year. Following the invasion of Ukraine, France stepped up its engagement in Estonia from March 2022, within the NATO reassurance mechanisms present in Estonia (enhanced Forward Presence multinational battalion and patrol of the Baltic skies). Against this backdrop, in June 2022 the military exercise Thunder Lynx was carried out, with the dropping of 80 French paratroopers into Estonian territory. In the summer of 2018, an Estonian contingent (some 50 force members) was integrated within Operation Barkhane in Mali. In July 2020, Estonia was the first European country to commit alongside France as part of the European Takuba Task Force coalition (some 30 Special Forces troops).

Economic relations

Bilateral trade with France saw a significant rise between 2020 and 2021, due to the post-Covid economic recovery. Trade between Estonia and France reached €732 million in 2021, compared to €574 million in 2020, enabling France to remain 13th in terms of Estonia’s trade partners.

Estonian exports to France amounted to €359 million, an increase of 37% on 2020. Imports from France, meanwhile, rose by 19.5% in one year, reaching €373 million in 2021. Estonia recorded a trade deficit of €14 million with France in 2021, compared to a trade deficit of €50 million in 2020.

Estonia mainly exports wood and its by-products to France, which totalled €84.9 million in 2021. These products represented 23.7% of Estonian exports to France. Other key export areas to France are electronic equipment and machines, manufactured products and chemical and industrial products.

Estonia imports vehicles and transport equipment from France (€110 million; 29.5% of imports from France), electronic machines and equipment (€79 million; 21.2%), processed food, beverages and tobacco (€44.5 million; 11.9%) and chemical products (€38.6 million, 10.3%). With the exception of arms and ammunition, Estonian imports from France all rose between 2020 and 2021. 
Some 40 French businesses are present in Estonia: Alstom and Saint-Gobain, in particular, but also JC Decaux (management of Tallinn’s street furniture), DPD (logistics and transport), Eolane (professional electronics), Lemoine (plant manufacturing make-up removal pads), AccorHotels and Antali (paper, packing and communication materials distributor).