Sweden has a strong position as Finland’s close bilateral partner in defence cooperation. The cooperation builds on a long historical bond, shared values, multidimensional contemporary ties and widely integrated economies.
For the most part, Finland and Sweden evaluate their respective security environments from similar premises. Therefore, deepening foreign and security policy cooperation and defence cooperation with Sweden serves Finland’s interests.
Finland and Sweden deepened their defence cooperation systematically even before they joined NATO. Sweden will remain a strong bilateral ally of Finland, and the two countries will continue their extensive and far-reaching defence cooperation. The changed security situation underlines the importance of Finnish–Swedish defence cooperation for strengthening the defence of both countries.
Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO memberships and the increasingly close bilateral cooperation arrangements between the Nordic countries and the United States strengthen the stability and security in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe, reducing the risk of the use of military force in Finland’s neighbouring areas. The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO also helps deepen the cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries.
The Government report on Finnish foreign and security policy (2024) and the Government Defence Report (2024) outline Finland’s objectives for cooperation with Sweden.
Finland's defence cooperation with Sweden is based on mutual trust and long-term work. Its objective is to strengthen the security of the Baltic Sea region and bolster the defence of Finland and Sweden. Finland and Sweden cooperate in times of peace, crisis and war. No limits are set in advance for intensified bilateral cooperation. The Memorandum of Understanding (2018) on defence cooperation between the Governments of Finland and Sweden forms the framework for this cooperation.
The most important elements of the military cooperation between Finland and Sweden are common operations planning, exchange of information and situational picture, training and exercises, and material cooperation and logistics. This cooperation will be further deepened to meet the needs of Allied cooperation.
Sweden has an important role as a transit nation for reinforcements to Finland. The long history of extensive cooperation between Finland and Sweden, our common operations planning and exercises serve as a foundation for a strong alliance between our countries.
Sweden’s role as the framework nation for NATO’s Forward Land Forces in Finland will further deepen the alliance between the two countries.
At the practical level, defence cooperation between Finland and Sweden is broad-based, and the countries exercise actively together. Finnish–Swedish training and exercises encompass all services as well as government ministries.
The current security situation has accelerated the development of host nation support arrangements between Finland and Sweden as part of their deepening defence cooperation. Finland and Sweden signed a Memorandum of Understanding on host nation support in summer 2022.
