Thorvald Stoltenberg guests the Nordic Council Session in Stockholm

22.10.14 | News
Thorvald Stoltenberg
Photographer
Søren Sigfusson
The defence and security situation in the Nordic Region will set the tone for the current affairs debate at the Nordic Council's Session in Stockholm next week. The guest speaker will be Thorvald Stoltenberg, former Norwegian foreign and defence minister and author of the much-discussed Stoltenberg report.

In February 2009 Thorvald Stoltenberg presented his report Nordic co-operation on foreign and defence policy to the Nordic foreign ministers. The report presents a number of policy areas and occasions for closer and more wide-ranging Nordic partnerships in foreign and security affairs.

Today the Nordic countries have developed co-operation in most of the areas in the report. The time when defence policy was taboo has long since past, and, earlier this month, the Nordic Council held its second roundtable discussion on Nordic defence policy, this time with the Norwegian Presidency in the defence co-operation NORDEFCO.

"We hope that the current affairs debate will go beyond defence and security policy, which will certainly be highlighted at the prime ministers' summit and in the defence ministers' statement. One issue that may be relevant, for example, is how the Nordic Region should manage the migration flow arising as a result of the trouble spots around the world" said the President of the Nordic Council, Hans Wallmark.

The current affairs debate with the invited guest speaker is a new element at the Nordic Council Session and one part of a larger reform being implemented by the Nordic Council in 2014-2015.

Accreditation for journalists to the Nordic Council Session is open until 23.10.