The Prime Minister's remarks at the press conference concluding the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Leaders’ Summit

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We have concluded two days of working in the JEF format; the Joint Expeditionary Force has been in existence for some 10 years. This is a light structure of heavy importance. This is not an organization. This is not a bureaucracy. But this is driven by leaders at the political level, coordinating their security and defense work in Northern Europe.

I have found, being host for this meeting, that we have had a very substantial round together, in two sessions – dinner yesterday, working dinner – and today's meeting.

We started our meeting yesterday on the 8th of May, which is celebrated as the Liberation Day in Norway, 80 years after the liberation in 1945, and also the Veterans’ Day.

And during our dinner, as you have heard, we had a discussion on Ukraine, preparing for today's discussions with President Zelenskyy. And as a follow-up from President Stubb's visit to Washington DC and my visit to Washington DC – where we have discussed the coordination between America and Europe on Ukraine – we proposed to our partners to get in touch with President Trump to have this discussion on how we now work together, in the following-up. – We presented a request to the White House and the President accepted. So, we had him on the phone with the group at 9:30 yesterday evening, and agreed that it is necessary to work together, US and Europe, on having a 30-days ceasefire, and also agreed that if that is not respected it should be met with stricter measures, including sanctions. We had a good discussion on this.

Then, we had a telephone conversation with President Zelenskyy, who himself had had a telephone call with President Trump. So, there was dialogue going back and forth. And as we saw, late in the evening, President Trump put out his message where he is underlining the US commitment to contribute to ceasefire and a peaceful settlement. And he underlined the 30 days and he underlined the scenario of potential sanctions, should that be necessary. That, I think, was an important message of unity one day ahead of President Putin making his fanfare today in Moscow.

And today, in our meeting, we have had another round with President Zelenskyy on coordination between the Joint Expeditionary Force and Ukraine. We have agreed to invite Ukraine to form an enhanced partnership with the Joint Expeditionary Force.

So, at a number of levels, we have agreed to follow up with inviting Ukraine to participate in relevant exercises, to take part in joint training, and to work on mutual learning on technical innovation cooperation. – Again, a light structure on very heavy and important issues.

We also had an agreement in the follow-up among JEF leaders that we will deepen our cooperation on deterrence and peacetime activity. We have tasked our Defense Ministers to do a number of very concrete things in working closer together in exercises, in training, and in how we coordinate ourselves inside NATO.

We had today also a good discussion with colleagues from the Faroe Islands and Greenland, both part of the Kingdom of Denmark, belonging to a maritime area – that is the area and the region of JEF. It was an important underlining of the unity we have with these leaders and those who they represent.

And we had a further discussion on how we will strengthen and deepen our cooperation on maritime security, the fight against the ‘shadow fleet’. We have tasked our Ministers to prepare the next meeting of JEF to go deeper on maritime security, be it in the Arctic, be it in the Norwegian Sea, North Sea, or in the Baltic Sea.

Finally, we are also facilitating cooperation between our countries on NATO's defense industry efforts. We have become aware during the Ukrainian war that a lot has to be done to push forward speedy delivery from our defense industries, more cooperation inside Europe, more cooperation with the US. And JEF countries will work on that strongly together.

Yesterday, I presented the Norwegian Security Strategy, which is combining what we do in the defense sector, what we do in the civilian sector, what we do in our economy, and what we do generally with preparedness. And everything we have done within JEF yesterday and today is really highly relevant for all of that.

So, I thank my colleagues for having contributed to a very useful – and, I think – important session of JEF. The next host of JEF will be President Stubb, my good colleague for so many years. We leave now the JEF coordination in very safe hands. So, President Stubb, please, you have the floor.