Prime Ministers of Lithuania and Norway discuss COVID situation and point out importance of NB8 cooperation

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has had a remote meeting with Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg to discuss the progress in the fight against the COVID pandemic and the agenda and prospects for the bilateral and the Nordic-Baltic cooperation in the NB8 format.

‘We attach special importance to the Nordic-Baltic co-operation, and our convergence across all the areas is our strategic interest. We firmly agree that security threats, including hybrid and cyber, are common to the entire region’, said the Head of Government.

The counterparts have confirmed that Lithuania and Norway are close NATO allies that share an important agenda in the fields of security, defence, energy, and economic cooperation.

Lithuania highly values Norway’s contribution to the regional security: Norway’s troops serve in the eFP battalion in Rukla, participate in NATO air policing missions and in key projects of modernisation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

There has been an exchange of views on the importance of further support for Belarusian civil society.

On foreign policy, the Prime Ministers have noted that Lithuania and Norway continue co-operation in international organisations, are like-minded on the issues of support for Eastern partners and of Russia's aggression. Norway has joined the European Union sanctions against this country.

On the COVID-19 situation, the counterparts have discussed the control measures and the current situation. The need for stepping up the joint efforts to combat false information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine has been pointed out, also the importance of clear, transparent and comprehensive public information.