Norway Supports the Political Declaration on the Level Playing Field for the European Defence Equipment Market

News - 17 November 2009

Norway's Minister of Defence Grete Faremo

Norway announced today its support to the Political Declaration on the Level Playing Field for the European Defence Equipment Market, approved at today’s Steering Board in Ministers of Defence formation.

In a letter addressed to Javier Solana, Head of the European Defence Agency, Norway recognizes that “the creation of a Level Playing Field is vital to the development of an open and transparent European Defence Equipment Market”. Furthermore, Grete Faremo, Norway’s Minister of Defence, has expressed willingness to associate Norway to this collective effort.

Norway has an Administrative Arrangement for cooperation with EDA. Although not a member of the EU, it participates in its European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) in many ways. In the scope of the European Defence and Equipment Market work strand, Norway participates in the EDA Regime on Defence Procurement (including the recently launched Code of Conduct on Offsets), under which governments and industry voluntarily commit to more open cross-border competition for defence equipment contracts.