Norway to host JEF defense ministers' meeting on November 4-5: Shmyhal's participation planned
Kyiv • UNN
Defense ministers from ten Joint Expeditionary Force countries will meet in Norway. This is the first JEF meeting with the participation of Ukraine's defense minister and the first above the Arctic Circle.
Defense ministers from ten member countries of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) will gather in Norway. Ukraine's Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal will also attend the meeting, UNN reports with reference to VG newspaper.
"I would like to call this meeting of defense ministers historic," said Norwegian Defense Minister Thore O. Sandvik.
He says that the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) will gather in Bodø. This is a cooperation of ten Scandinavian and Northern European countries in the field of security and defense under the leadership of Great Britain.
The head of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense believes that the meeting is historic for two reasons.
"This is the first meeting of JEF defense ministers with the physical participation of the Ukrainian defense minister, and this is the first meeting of JEF defense ministers held north of the Arctic Circle," Sandvik added.
The publication notes that this is the first visit of the new Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal to Norway.
In addition to him, the defense ministers of Great Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and, of course, Norway will also be present.
"The team for meetings in the JEF will be how we will strengthen cooperation and security in Northern Europe. We will also be able to demonstrate the new NATO air operations center in Bodø," Sandvik summarized.