Defence

Today, representatives of the Northern Group – comprising Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom - met in Oslo on board the UK aircraft carrier, HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, and gave the following statement.

The defence ministers from the countries within the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) met on 22 November 2022 in Oslo, Norway, and gave the following statement.

Finland, Norway and Sweden strengthen trilateral defence cooperation. Finland’s Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen, Norway's Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram and Sweden’s Minister for Defence Pål Jonson signed the Statement of Intent (SoI) in Oslo, Norway, on 22 November 2022.

Minister for Defence Pål Jonson will travel to Oslo to take part in the NORDEFCO ministerial meeting.

(New version) On Friday 18 November, Minister of Defence Pål Jonson will travel to Canada to attend the Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) on 18–19 November.

The Government is moving ahead on a winter package to Ukraine. The package is the largest to date and includes military and humanitarian support and support for rehabilitation of critical infrastructure.

New version: The defence ministers from the countries within the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) defence cooperation met on 10 November 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and gave the following statement.

During the Hanaholmen Initiative in Helsinki on November 1, Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin gave a speech on Swedish-Finnish cooperation for civil defence. The speech was held at Hanaholmen Konferenshotell. Check against delivery.

On Monday 24 October, Minister for Defence Pål Jonson visited Finland’s Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen in Helsinki. It was Mr Jonson’s first visit abroad as Minister for Defence.

The Government has decided to provide additional military support to Ukraine. The support consists of materiel requested by Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, infantry support weapons and mine clearance equipment. In total, this support amounts to a value of approximately SEK 500 million.

Rose Garden, White House, 19 May 2022. Check against delivery.

On 17 May, EU defence ministers met in Brussels to discuss how to implement the EU’s Strategic Compass. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was also on the agenda. State Secretary Jan-Olof Lind represented Sweden at the meeting.

The Government has adopted a bill proposing legislative amendments to quickly streamline Sweden’s ability to receive military support. The aim is to enable quicker decisions on receiving operational military support in the form of military forces from states that are members of the EU or NATO.

The 2015 defence bill stated that the single most important issue to address in the period of 2016–2020 was to increase the operational warfighting capability of the Swedish Armed Forces and to ensure the overall capability of Swedish total defence. The total defence includes all activities preparing the society for war and consists of both civil and military defence.

In this Communication, the Swedish Government provides an account of Sweden’s export control policy with respect to military equipment and dual-use items in 2018. The Communication also contains a report detailing exports of military equipment during the year. In addition, it describes the cooperation in the EU and other international forums on matters relating to strategic export controls on both military equipment and dual-use items.

The defence ministers and supreme commanders from the nations of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) met in Klaipėda, Lithuania, on 28 June. Sweden was represented by Policy Director Johan Lagerlöf and Chief of Defence Staff of the Swedish Armed Forces Jonas Haggren.

State Secretary Jan-Olof Lind hosted the Nordic permanent secretaries meeting that was held in Luleå on 23–24 May within the framework of the Swedish chairmanship of NORDEFCO. The agenda included information about national defence plans, international cooperation and total defence. In connection with the meeting, the state secretaries visited the Arctic Challenge Exercise.

The Swedish chairmanship of NORDEFCO will host a meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation in Stockholm on 14 May 2019.

In this Communication, the Swedish Government provides an account of Sweden’s export control policy with respect to military equipment and dual-use items in 2017. The Communication also contains a report detailing exports of military equipment during the year. In addition, it describes the cooperation in the EU and other international forums on matters relating to strategic export controls on both military equipment and dual-use items.

Migration, EU–US relations, and security and defence will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Stefan Löfven meets his European Council colleagues on 28–29 June.