US Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work wrapped up the first-ever meeting of Nordic and US deputy defense ministers, proclaiming the discussions a success, with a number of staffers calling the talks better than expected.

“This body has both NATO allies, as well as non-NATO allies,” Work told reporters in Oslo, Norway, Sept. 8 during a break in the talks, “but we all have a shared interest in peace and stability in the Baltics and the High North. And so Nordic defense cooperation is a very innovative way for non-NATO and NATO countries to get together to describe, or to discuss, common security problems.

“Ministers from the US, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland attended the one-day conference, prompted by provocative Russian military action in several world theaters, including the Baltic Sea region.

“We have, as we all know, a very complicated situation according to security in the world, in Europe, but also in our own region,” said Jan Salestrand, Swedish state secretary to the minister for defense. “The US presence in our region is of great value — and I’ll say crucial.”

Image: Deputy defense ministers of Norway, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, Sept. 8, 2015 (photo: Norwegian Ministry of Defense)