At the Nordic Defence Ministers meeting in Copenhagen 9 November, the Nordic Ministers signed Memorandum of Understanding on Easy Access.

The meeting was held as the final meeting during the Danish chairmanship of the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO). In addition, discussions were held in the Northern Group and NB8 format with the participation of Baltic Ministers and Germany the UK, Poland and the Netherlands.

At the meeting, the Nordic ministers signed a framework agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) to enable easier access to each other’s territories. The agreement covers Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland and will strengthen security in the Baltic region by making it easier to access each other’s air, sea and land territories with military capabilities. The agreement also makes it easier to carry out exercises and training in the Nordic region.

After the meeting the Nordic Defence Ministers published a joint statement stressing the importance of the signed agreement:

Today, we, the Nordic Ministers of Defence, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on enhanced and easier access to each other’s territories in peacetime. In light of the worsened security situation in our region, increased cooperation within NORDEFCO has become even more important. The Easy Access framework is driven by the ambition to ensure unprece-dented access for the Nordic countries to each other’s territories in all domains, be it air, land or maritime.

The Easy Access Memorandum of Understanding will improve the operational effect and qual-ity of air, land and maritime operations.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is a clear example of the value the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) brings to the Nordic countries in our joint effort to contrib-ute to stability, peace and security in our neighborhood.

The framework agreement is inspired by the Danish-Swedish military framework agreement of 14 January 2016, which for instance allows for the Danish Quick reaction Force to cross Swedish territory to intercept foreign aircraft on its way to the Danish territory and thus shorten the response time.

Joint statement, Nov. 9th 2016