“We agreed to prepare an agreement on a strategic partnership between Poland and Norway,” Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters on Monday after meeting his Norwegian counterpart, Tore O. Sandvik, at Oslo’s Akershus fortress, home to Norway’s defense ministry.
Kosiniak-Kamysz said Norway was “a true ally, a friend of Poland”, and thanked Oslo for supporting Polish air defense in recent months through the deployment of NASAMS air defense batteries and F-35 aircraft.
He said the two sides also discussed cooperation related to Poland’s upcoming introduction of F-35 jets, noting that Norwegian experts shared experience with members of the Polish delegation working on pilot and technician training.
The Polish minister also pointed to cooperation in training Ukrainian soldiers at Camp Jomsborg in southeastern Poland and in the SAN counter-drone defense program.
“Air defense, missile defense and counter-drone defense are the biggest challenges”, he said. “Together with our Norwegian partners from Kongsberg, with PGZ and APS, Polish state-owned and private companies, we have created a historic consortium building the first counter-drone defense system in Europe and the first on this scale in NATO”.
“It is our product, which will be useful not only for Poland, but also for Norway and other allies”, he added. “We want it to become our export product”.
Kosiniak-Kamysz said other areas for closer cooperation included naval issues, protection of infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, military mobility and cyber activities.
“In all areas, in all domains, we have good cooperation. We are friends through good times and bad. We can count on each other”, he said.
Sandvik said Polish-Norwegian cooperation had tightened to an unprecedented degree in recent years. He thanked Poland for cooperation in supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia, strengthening NATO’s eastern flank and developing its own defense capabilities.
“When it comes to security, our relations have never been as close as they are today”, Sandvik said.
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Source: PAP