Norway, Iceland sign defence cooperation deal

OSLO, Apr 26 (Reuters) Norway and Iceland signed an agreement today to expand defence cooperation to boost the Atlantic island nation's security and help secure future shipments of oil and gas.

The US pullout last year from the Keflavik naval air base, which had been an important forward post during the Cold War, led Iceland to some of its NATO allies, including Norway, to ask for increased military cooperation.

Foreign Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, who signed the deal for Iceland in Oslo, told a news conference that a treaty with the United States and security guarantee provided by NATO remained the cornerstones of her country's defence.

The Norway-Iceland agreement, which provides mainly for peacetime cooperation in areas such as training, search and rescue and surveillance of sea areas, does not supplant those treaties.

Denmark and Iceland have made a similar cooperation deal.

''There are new challenges in the high north that both Norway and Iceland must address,'' Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said after signing the deal on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in the Norwegian capital.

''We have to take into consideration that these waters will be important lanes of traffic for transports of both oil and gas,'' Stoere told a news conference. ''And Iceland is in the middle of those waters.'' Norway will begin shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the east coast of the United States towards the end of this year from Statoil's Snoehvit gas field in the Barents Sea.

Russia has big ambitions to tap petroleum resources in its sector of the Barents Sea, including at the giant Shtokman gas field which is also seen as a future supplier of LNG to the energy-hungry United States.

''I believe this is a good thing for Norway and Iceland and for Europe and the Atlantic States,'' Stoere said of the accord.

Stoere noted that NATO's Riga summit last year agreed that securing energy infrastructure, including transport, was a concern for the alliance.

The deal will not station any Norwegian forces permanently in Iceland, though Stoere said Norwegian aircraft could join in exercises from Keflavik in the future.

REUTERS JS PM1950