Foreign Ministers agree to continue Nordic cooperation
At their recent meeting in Iceland, the Nordic foreign ministers agreed to continue to cooperate in meeting the challenges in the area of foreign and security policy.
The Foreign Ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden met in Reykjavik on 8-9 June 2009 to discuss ways to strengthen Nordic cooperation in the areas of foreign affairs and security policy.
It is natural for the Nordic countries to cooperate in meeting the challenges in the area of foreign and security policy in the spirit of solidarity, a declaration from the meeting reads. Increased Nordic co-operation is in line with every Nordic country’s security and defense policy and complements existing European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation.
The Ministers welcome the proposals set forth in the report of Thorvald Stoltenberg, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence of Norway. The Ministers initiated this report at their meeting in Luxembourg on June 16th last year where Thorvald Stoltenberg was asked to prepare a report on how the Nordic countries may strengthen their cooperation to face future foreign- and security policy challenges.
The Ministers further agree that enhanced Nordic cooperation should be complementary to existing NATO, EU and OSCE commitments and cooperation. There is also a general understanding that it is only through well-functioning multilateralism, not least the work in the United Nations framework, that transnational challenges can be solved.
The Ministers note that the Stoltenberg report contains several proposals relating to the Arctic and the High North, where there are a wide range of areas of common Nordic challenges in relation to continued Nordic Arctic cooperation. This is also reflected in the close cooperation between Norway, Denmark and Sweden in their consecutive Presidencies of the Arctic Council.
Referring to the proposal on a possible system for civilian maritime surveillance of environmental issues the Ministers note that Norway has invited to share information with the other Nordic countries on preliminary study of such a system (“Barents Watch”). The Ministers also note the extensive international cooperation in the Baltic sea. The surveillance system could benefit from available satellite resources and interested Nordic countries have established a dialogue on how to enhance common efforts in this field.
The Ministers also agree that increased commercial activity in the Arctic and the High North will call for enhanced presence of Coast Guard vessels as they represent important search and rescue assets. The Ministers note that these efforts should be followed up in cooperation with other nations.
