By Nora Buli
OSLO, April 14 (Reuters) – Norway and Ukraine will strengthen their bilateral defence cooperation, including by producing Ukrainian drones in the Nordic country, the Norwegian government said on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, Norway will support the production of drones in Ukraine, while the latter will share data, information and knowledge with Norway, Oslo said in a statement. Ukrainian drones will also be produced on Norwegian territory, it said.
“We can learn from the experiences that Ukraine is making in this hard-won fight against the Russian aggression,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“It is crucial that we learn from these experiences,” he said.
Norway, along with the other Nordic and Baltic countries, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
Stoere’s government has set up a long-term funding plan for Kyiv, with the backing of all parties in parliament, amounting to some $28 billion between 2023 and 2030, making it one of Kyiv’s most generous backers per capita.
Earlier on Tuesday, Zelenskiy was in Berlin to meet German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The pair agreed defence cooperation plans including a deal on drone production that Zelenskiy said could become one of the largest of its kind in Europe.
(Reporting by Nora Buli, additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, writing by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Anna Ringstrom)
