Baltic, Nordic defense ministers to meet in Sweden ahead of NATO summit

VILNIUS – A meeting of the ministers of defense of the Nordic and Baltic countries will take place in Stockholm on Tuesday, focusing on the NATO summit due in London at the beginning of December.

The ministers will also discuss further prospects for cooperation, Vita Ramanauskaite, spokesperson for Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis, said.

"Apart from the usual agenda items, such as strengthening Nordic-Baltic cooperation in defense, security and cybersecurity, combating hybrid threats, and joint exercises and operations, the ministers will also discuss further cooperation in this format after Brexit," Ramanauskaite said. 

The ministers of defense of the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and the UK will join the Nordic and Baltic ministers for a Northern Group defense policy forum on Wednesday. 

The meetings in Stockholm are to be attended by the defense ministers of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland, and representatives of the Foreign Ministry of Iceland, spokespeople for the Swedish Ministry of Defense have said.

NATO's London summit will take place on Dec. 3-4.