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Sweden and Norway increase and strengthen defense cooperation

Defense minister Ine Eriksen Søreide.Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

The defense policy of cooperation between Sweden and Norway will be intensified, wrote the countries’ defense ministers in a joint debate notification.
‘We are in a new situation in Europe, and Scandinavia is facing serious security challenges’, it said in a notice in Dagens Næringsliv newspaper, signed by the Defence Minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, and her Swedish colleague, Peter Hultqvist.

Russia’s security policy, its illegal annexation of the Crimea, and aggression in the Ukraine conflict, were highlighted as examples.

‘It has led to instability and unpredictability that we have not seen in Europe since the Cold War,’ they said.

The two ministers met in Oslo in November and agreed on a number of measures.

Among other things, maritime transport and important junctions will have security increased, and both Norway and Sweden will reintroduce defense attaché positions in Oslo and Stockholm to strengthen information exchange.

The Defence Ministers wrote that cooperation between the neighbouring countries is becoming increasingly important at a time when the preconditions for European security is seeing changes.

‘The purpose of a strengthening of Swedish-Norwegian defense cooperation is a shared ambition to increase predictability, promote stability, and pursue peaceful development without confrontation and conflict in our part of the world.’

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today