Norway, Denmark sign agreement on strengthened Arctic defence

The Letter of Intent signed this week by Norway’s Bjørn Arild Gram and Denmark’s Troels Lund Poulsen includes a stronger bilateral cooperation on education and training, drones and air defence.

“It will contribute to enhanced Norwegian, Nordic and allied security,” Gram says in a statement.

He highlights the importance of cooperation in the North.

“It is especially important for Norway to cooperate more closely with Denmark on our areas of responsibility in the North Atlantic and Arctic,” Gram underlines.

“These are areas of strategic interest for both NATO and Russia,” he explains.

The two neighbouring Nordic countries have many of the same kind of military hardware, including Leopard-2 tanks, F-35 fighter jets and SEAHAWK helicopters, something that facilitates joint training and activities.

Oslo and Copenhagen now also intend to cooperate about air defence and surveillance. Both countries are in the process of acquiring more air defence systems.

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The agreement reads that the countries will “look into ways of cooperation on enhanced situational awareness in areas of common interest.” They will also “investigate options for further cooperation and interoperability on maritime capabilities.”

The two countries also reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine.   

“Denmark and Norway will continuously support Ukraine’s efforts in areas of assistance, including funding donations of military equipment, training and political backing,” the document reads. The two countries will also consider support to the Ukrainian defence industry.

The bilateral agreement comes amid a major strengthening of defence cooperation across the Nordic region.

“We want to strengthen our collective, regional and bilateral cooperation. With Finland and Sweden in NATO the Nordic defence cooperation is developed. At the same time it is important also to strengthen trilateral and bilateral cooperation between Nordic allies,” Norway’s Defence Minister Bjørn Arild Gram says.

“Our security views and interests coincide,” he underlines.