Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs visits National Emergency Supply Agency

Sweden's Minister for Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren and Finland's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah visited the National Emergency Supply Agency on 20 August. The Finnish and Swedish Governments aim to develop economic cooperation, and exchange of information and communications related to security of supply.

“International cooperation to ensure security of supply is important in our changed security environment. Finland will strengthen security of supply by developing international cooperation through the EU and NATO and bilaterally with some states.  We will also reinforce Nordic cooperation in preparedness and security of supply,” says Minister Sari Essayah. 
Cooperation between Finland and Sweden is based on an agreement on economic cooperation in international crisis situations. Finland's cooperation efforts concerning security of supply have intensified and become more concrete, especially with Sweden and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.

The ministerial meeting is a follow-up to the meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Agriculture held in mid-June in Karlstad, Sweden. At that meeting, the ministers issued the Karstadt Declaration, where the main focus is on security of supply. The Nordic countries are exploring ways to develop a well-functioning and resilient logistics chain and to strengthen the supply of critical goods and services. In particular, the Nordic countries aim to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Finland and Sweden are leading these efforts. Similarly, the Nordic countries seek to reduce their dependence on Russia and Belarus for fertiliser raw materials, such as nitrogen and potassium.

The Finnish hosts showed their guests how the security of supply cooperation between the private and public sectors works in Finland. Cooperation in preparing for disruptions in the operation of water utilities also came up in the discussions.

"Sweden will focus on improving preparedness and strengthening the sustainability of the food sector. We greatly appreciate the cooperation with Finland and wish to further develop it on the basis of the Karlstad Declaration, which is an important premise for our work. I am grateful for this opportunity to visit the National Emergency Supply Agency together with Minister Essayah," says Minister for Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren. 

Two EU directives (CER and NIS 2), entering into force this autumn, will impose an obligation on the EU Member States to notify the European Commission and the Member States more quickly of disruptions in telecommunications and other similar areas. Finland's view is that Finland and Sweden could together develop similar rapid exchange of information, for example on floods in the north and forest fires.

Both domestic and international aspects of security of supply feature significantly in the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's Government.

Inquiries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Iina Mattila, Special Adviser to the Minister, tel. +358 50 473 6221 firstname.lastname@gov.fi

Pentti Lähteenoja, Director General (Information and Research Division), tel. +358 295 162 485 firstname.lastname@gov.fi