Cooperation or division?

Strengthening security cooperation between regional neighbours is the main theme of the Nordic and Baltic Summit taking place this week in Sweden.

Illustration photo.

Formed in 1992 as an informal regional cooperation model, the Nordic-Baltic Cooperation (NB8) comprises eight countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

From the initial goal of promoting the transition of the Baltic countries after separating from the Soviet Union, with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joining the European Union (EU) and the NATO military bloc in 2004, NB8 has increasingly expanded the scale of cooperation.

Over time, NB8 has developed a network of cooperation in the fields of politics, military, economy, education, environment, culture, banking... Regular high-level meetings as well as expert consultations are regularly held.

Security uncertainties in Europe and the recent accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO have led NB8 to pay more attention to regional security issues, especially in the Baltic Sea. Although under the NATO umbrella, NB8 is still looking to develop its own cooperation mechanisms.

In this vein, the main topics of discussion at this summit in Sweden will include transatlantic relations and regional security in the Baltic Sea, as well as issues surrounding the Russia-Ukraine conflict. There are many areas where NB8 can cooperate, from the integration of the Nordic-Baltic defense system, common information collection and sharing systems to the air surveillance network, shared radar imaging systems, etc.

However, North Sea-Baltic security is also closely related to Russia, which shares the Baltic Sea but is in a confrontational position with NB8. Although the Finnish Prime Minister sees NB8 cooperation as a good thing for “neighbors”, in some aspects the goal is to strengthen regional security but in reality it is more divisive.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/bac-au-baltic-no-luc-hop-tac-hay-chia-re-295396.html