Urmas Varblane, chairman of the supervisory board of the Bank of Estonia and member of the Expert Panel on Competitiveness, suggested that Estonia could host a European rare earth processing center of excellence, similar to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence. Around this investment, by leveraging the expertise of local companies and universities and responding to the European Union's high demand for critical raw materials, it is possible to develop a rare earth processing cluster in Estonia," Varblane said. At the G7 summit this summer, she noted that permanent magnets produced in Estonia from rare earth elements symbolize the cooperation between Europe and its allies in pursuit of strategic independence. The development of rare earth elements is central to the EU's Critical Raw Materials Strategy, as they are essential, for example, for ensuring energy security. The expert panel recommends that the Estonian state, acting as a significant anchor investor, should promote cross-border fund-of-funds initiatives, involving Nordic countries in addition to the Baltics.