The general shortage of strategic sealift capacity within NATO and EU has prompted this co-operation. The work in the Norwegian led group has been successful and resulted in a reduction of the shortfall in NATO by combining a wide reaching co-ordination effort of available strategic sealift and the establishment of an additional multinational capability. The EU group is considering a similar approach, and several EU nations expressed a clear wish to develop common solutions to avoid duplication of effort.

The Chairman of the Norwegian led High Level Group; Assistant Director General Stein Weber from the Norwegian MOD, expressed his great satisfaction by the newly established co-operation between the two groups. He highlighted that the contribution of capacities to both groups is a national responsibility, and that he sees great benefits from the potential collaboration in the proposed solutions by both groups in the establishment and further development of such types of capacities.

The NATO and EU group agreed to keep each other informed about the continuing work and to meet later this autumn to consider concrete activities for co-operation and the possibility to continue to participate in each others meeting as observers.