After having their Nordic – Baltic Defence Ministers meeting in Kongsvinger 25. and 26. August 2005, the Defence Ministers of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden have concluded:

• Despite different security and defence policy alignments, the Nordic countries have had a comprehensive cooperation in defence and security politics. We have had substantial benefits of cooperating on international issues.

• The Nordic countries have actively contributed to qualify Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for NATO and EU membership. Today the Nordic countries focus their support to the West Balkans through their “Region to Region cooperation” and the Baltic states have their main focus on Ukraine and South Caucasus region.

• The Baltic entry to the EU and NATO could lead to increased Nordic-Baltic cooperation in different areas. Better coordination of each state’s military contributions to international peace support, operations and joint efforts to support security and defence reform in vulnerable conflict areas are relevant areas in this respect.

• The Nordic- Baltic cooperation is in itself a model for cooperation in other regions such as the Ukraine, South Caucasus and the West Balkans.

• Different security policy alignments strengthen the ability to increase our cooperation and to improve the coordination between NATO and the EU.

• The establishment of a Nordic EU battle group contributes to strengthening the Nordic cooperation further.