Through the joint statement, the ministerial council expresses its support for the „New York Joint Statement on the Security and Resilience of Undersea Cables in a Globally Digitalized World”, laying out global principles to ensure undersea cable infrastructure is secure, reliable, sustainable and resilient.
Recent events in the Baltic sea have highlighted the need for strengthened security for subsea communication cables. At a recent meeting in Stockholm, the Nordic and Baltic ministers of digitalisation laid the foundation for strengthened cooperation on critical underwater infrastructure.
In a joint statement, the ministers state that underwater infrastructure for electronic communication constitutes critical infrastructure and highlight, among other things, the importance of a joint Nordic-Baltic approach in the work with the EU and NATO.
– A secure digital infrastructure is a prerequisite for our countries’ competitiveness and for securing the national need for electronic communication and access to digital services. In a time of geopolitical change robustness, resilience and redundancy in subsea communication cable systems are essential, says Erik Slottner, minister for public administration and digitalisation.
Increased Nordic-Baltic cooperation contributes to strengthening security in our region and to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ vision that the region should be the world’s most digitally integrated region by 2030. Secretary General Karen Ellemann emphasises that the joint statement is a good example of how we strengthen resilience in our region by working together.
– Being an integrated region, we highly depend on each other. This makes us strong. But if we lose the regional perspective, it also makes us vulnerable. The Nordic Council of Ministers will step up its mission to act as a driving force in bringing together relevant actors on resilience, continuing to provide a relevant platform for political dialogue and partnerships, says Ellemann.
