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Norwegian ministers urge NATO to increase role in the High North
By Nicholas Fiorenza
01 June 2009
NATO should increase its role in the High North, Norwegian ministers told parliamentarians from alliance member states meeting in Oslo on 22-26 May.
State Secretary for Defence Espen Barth Eide said that new sea lines of communication caused by melting ice would increase the region's military-strategic and economic significance, with existing and potential conflicts of interest in the area undermining its stability. He called for more alliance visits to and exercises in the area and for capabilities to be improved in the areas of satellite surveillance and communications and search and rescue.
Barth Eide said that the High North should be addressed by the next reorganisation of the NATO command structure if the joint commands in Brunssum and Naples regain the regional responsibilities lost during previous restructurings, which also closed down Allied Forces Northern Europe in Norway.