Will ensure a safer seabed

'An important part of the measures we have now agreed on to protect subsea cables includes better involvement of the private sector in this work,' said Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

"Damaged cables and pipelines on the seabed expose a vulnerability that is important for Norwegian security. We must work together with our neighbours and with the United States on this issue. I am also pleased that NATO is putting this on the agenda with the meeting they have had with the countries around the Baltic Sea [littoral states of the Baltic Sea] today," said Barth Eide.  

"For Norway, which has several thousand kilometers of subsea cables, it is very important to prevent attacks on this infrastructure," he says.

Since last autumn, the United States and the Nordic and Baltic countries have cooperated to counter the risk of attacks against subsea infrastructure. In November, Norway endorsed the Joint Statement on the Security and Resilience of Undersea Cables in a Globally Digitalized World. The declaration contains principles of safety, reliability, interoperability, sustainability and resilience in connection with the planning, deployment, repair and maintenance of subsea cables.

During NATO Defence Ministers' Meeting on 17 October last year, Norwegian Defence Minister Bjørn Arild Gram and his German colleague Boris Pistorius took the initiative to further strengthen NATO's role in the protection of critical undersea infrastructure across vas maritime areas l within NATO's area of responsibility.

Here are the measures that the US and the Nordic-Baltic countries have now agreed on:

1. Harmonize and develop channels and procedures for sharing real-time situational awareness and incident information within national governments, across Allies, and between public and private sector stakeholders, including incorporating private sector disruption notifications,
2. Identify opportunities for public-private partnerships to improve repair and maintenance fleet capacity, including through security of supply chain mechanisms, consortium investment and development funding mechanisms;
3. Encourage commercial cable operators, where possible, to establish a repository or database to collect and share information between operators regarding accidental cable faults/damage, completed repair work, time taken to repair, and reasons for any repair delays;
4. Streamline equipment import/export processes and allow for faster transportation of necessary commercial equipment to facilitate repairs, as appropriate/necessary.

The participants will increase coordination in these areas through NATO, ongoing U.S.-Nordic-Baltic consultations, and all other relevant fora between Allies and partners.