Defence

On Wednesday 14 October, Minister for Defence Peter Hultqvist received the Commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, General Jörg Vollmer, at the Ministry of Defence.

On September 25, 2020, the Ministers of Defence of Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom met via videoconference, in the third annual European Intervention Initiative (EI2) meeting.

The Swedish government has proposed to parliament that the defence sector should be allocated an additional SEK 5 billion in 2021.

On 8 September, the Riksdag decided to grant the Government greater rights to give and receive operational military support within the framework of defence cooperation between Sweden and Finland. The Government will be able to take decisions on matters such as assisting Finland militarily to prevent violations of Finnish territory, and receiving military support from Finland to prevent violations of Swedish territory or respond to an armed attack against Sweden. Decisions to assist Finland militarily to respond to an armed attack against Finland must still be approved by the Riksdag.

Minister for Defence Peter Hultqvist has taken part in a multilateral video meeting on 2 September concerning support to the countries in the Sahel region of Africa. The meeting was led by the French Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, and attended by defence ministers from about ten nations, as well as representatives from the European Union, the United Nations and the United States. The discussions focused mainly on the recent political developments in Mali.

Minister for Defence Peter Hultqvist visited Poland on 14–15 August on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Polish Armed Forces Day.

Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist attended a meeting of NATO defence ministers on 18 June concerning the affect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Alliance’s members and partner countries. The meeting was also attended by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, as well as the defence ministers of Finland and Australia.

On 18 June, Minister for Defence Peter Hultqvist met German Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and the defence ministers of the Nordic countries via video link. From Denmark Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen took part, from Norway Minister of Defence Frank Bakke-Jensen and from Finland Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen.

Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist attended the UK NATO Heads of Mission’s Forum on Monday 15 June 2020. The event was hosted by the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Sweden and Ambassador Judith Gough. The main theme of the conference focused on disinformation and cyber security.