Furthering Nordic cooperation in foreign affairs and security policy
The Foreign Ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden met in Reykjavik on 3 November 2010 for their biannual meeting to discuss matters of common interest in the area of foreign affairs and security policy.
"The main item on our agenda was to follow-up on the report by former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Norway, Mr. Thorvald Stoltenberg which was presented to us in 2009.
We reiterate that on the basis of common interests and geographical proximity it is natural for the Nordic countries to cooperate in meeting the challenges in the areas of foreign and security policy in the spirit of solidarity. Increased Nordic cooperation is in line with every Nordic country's security and defense policy and complements existing European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation. We have continued and will continue our discussions on this issue.
It is a long-term goal to further enhance cooperation and complementarily in international operations between the Nordic countries' military entities as well as civilian personnel. In the short run we will work towards strengthening the Nordic cooperation on training of personnel for international operations, particularly focusing on the civilian/military dimension. We see an advantage in further increasing our cooperation in this area. In parallel we will initiate an analysis on common Nordic experiences in international operations. It is our intention to reinforce Nordic Police Cooperation, which may increase the efficiency on joint Nordic resources for international operations. We also appreciate the close cooperation between our Defense Ministries in general.
Concerning a satellite system for surveillance and communications we have concluded that the way forward is to further strengthen our cooperation in relation to existing structures and organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA).
On cyber security we have decided to request our collogues in the Nordic Council of Ministers to set up a network on cyber-security "CERT Information Sharing Network" after having sought out any economic and technical implications. We also invite the Baltic countries to participate in the network as soon as feasible.
Regarding cooperation between diplomatic missions we have agreed that the present close administrative cooperation should be further intensified through various concrete measures such as better preparation of common premises and hosting of fellow diplomats in Nordic missions. We will also extend our cooperation i.a. in times of crises, establish common guidelines opening up for several Nordic countries using the same honorary consul, and explore possibilities for enhanced cooperation concerning travel documents. We will intensify cooperation between our missions abroad in cases of emergencies. Cooperation on foreign policy issues between our capitals and missions abroad will be further enhanced i.e. through joint reporting and analyses and sharing reports.
We are convinced that the further work on the implementation of the proposals in the Stoltenberg-report will contribute to placing a distinct Nordic marker on important foreign and security-issues."