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Finnish-Swedish defense cooperation to kick off in April: Finnish DM

Xinhua, April 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Finnish Defense Minister Carl Haglund said on Tuesday that the defense cooperation with Sweden will start to be implemented in April this year, Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported.

Haglund met Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist in Helsinki on Tuesday, discussing a report regarding defense cooperation between the two neighbours, which was submitted to them in February.

The report focused on secure communication development, more naval and air force cooperation, as well as combined units for crisis management operations and trainings.

Haglund said that building cooperation capacity is the key issue and these collaborations will start to be carried out in April.

Haglund hoped the new Finnish government, which will be formed after the general elections in April, would promote the defense cooperation with Sweden.

Finland and Sweden are the only two non-NATO countries in the Nordic region. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.

In recent years, Finland and Sweden have made efforts to enhance the defense cooperation. They made an action plan for deepened defense cooperation in May 2014 and drafted a final report on the cooperation in February 2015. Endit