Polish Security Bureau chief on NATO, bilateral co-operation in Norway
The strengthening of NATO's northern and eastern flank, bilateral co-operation, NATO-EU relations and the EU defence policy were the focus of talks held by Polish National Security Bureau (BBN) head Pawel Soloch in Norway.
PAP was told by P. Soloch that the visit was held as part of the preparations for a NATO summit in Brussels. "We have initial decisions regarding what interests us, namely, the ability of building a common defence, which in turn is connected with the establishing of new Atlantic and logistics commands, as well as two army commands," Soloch underlined.
He also added that his talks in Norway focused on the links between the alliance's northern flank and its eastern border, with special emphasis on the Baltic Sea region.
The BBN head admitted that Norway's relations with Russia and Norway's evaluation of threats from Russia "are slightly different, but Norwegians share the assessment regarding Russia's aggressive policy, especially in the context of the recent chemical attack" on the former Russian agent Sergei Skripal.
According to Soloch, his meetings also concerned NATO-EU relations. He added that Norway was interested in Poland's evaluation of the EU PESCO defence mechanism, which - as Soloch said - "can neither double NATO's actions nor rule out such countries as Norway or Britain after Brexit."
The official stressed that Norway, even though not an EU member, maintains close relations with Europe and is also interested in pro-Atlantic attitudes.
Pawel Soloch also spoke about a Baltic Pipe project regarding Norwegian gas supplies as well as Polish-Norwegian military and arms industry co-operation.
While in Norway, Pawel Soloch held talks at the Stavanger Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo, the Defence and Foreign Ministries and the Defence Staff.
Source: PAP