Norway joins EU’s Baltic Sea Region Strategy to work on ‘maritime challenges’

Norway has joined the EU’s Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region to enhance maritime cooperation and to coordinate work around common challenges, including surveillance and security aspects.

Norway will join existing members Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in the EUSBSR, becoming the ninth member of the strategy.

The strategy is a cooperation framework between the European Commission, the EU countries around the Baltic Sea and now Norway.

The Baltic Sea region has been on high alert after a string of incidents of ruptured undersea cables that have heightened fears of sabotage and spying in the region.

Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said the move would deepen cooperation with the bloc in a strategically important area.

“Membership will strengthen Norway’s cooperation with the EU in a region that has become central to European and Norwegian security,” Espen Barth Eide said.

Norway will also gain access to expanded collaboration on maritime coordination, surveillance and security. “It gives us new opportunities to take part in work on important areas such as maritime cooperation, surveillance and security, and helps to strengthen cohesion and resilience in our neighbouring areas,” he added.

The Baltic Sea area has become a focal point for both Norwegian and European security measures.

“The Baltic Sea Strategy provides a political and strategic framework for cooperation between the countries in the region. Norway has more than 28 years of experience from Interreg cooperation in the region and I believe membership in the Strategy will strengthen cooperation on regional development and help build more resilient regions from north to south,” noted minister of local government and regional development Bjørnar Selnes Skjæran.

The ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of local government and regional development will invite Norwegian public and private sector actors, as well as civil society organisations, to take part in cooperation under the strategy.

Norwegian public sector actors, private companies and research communities can participate in cooperation projects in areas such as maritime safety, energy, transport, culture, health, innovation, spatial planning, societal resilience and crisis preparedness.