It is a joint press meeting with Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir and Ursula von der Leyen

President of the European Commission. Madam

President, welcome to Iceland. Prime Minister, the floor is yours. Thank you very much. Dear

President, dear Ursula, we're so happy to have you here in Iceland. we've had such

a fantastic day here and it's been very important for us to be able to

show you how we live here in Iceland. Iceland and the EU

has had a long standing and deep relationship over the course of decades now

we all know the EEA agreement, which opened up big doors of trade and opportunity

for us. We're also in cooperation when it comes to border control

in in terms of Schengen. And now we see ourselves in a different situation as

well in the geopolitical area which which has to do with this area that is

our backyard, the Arctic and security and defense. So we thought it would be very

fitting that we take this opportunity and have a press conference here in Keflavik Air

Base where you've been able to see how we have been using

our facilities as a host nation for NATO, a lot of interesting things

that we've seen here and you can see how a small country like Iceland can

truly be a good impact when it comes to the broader

region in terms of NATO but there's also an interest and

interest when it comes to defense in, in relation to Europe and

we know that Europe has been stepping up. Iceland is willing to step up and

so that's what we've been discussing here. I also wanna say. Before I go over

a set of deliverables that we've been agreeing on in the meeting here before that

I think it's very important for us to show you and the whole of Europe

how we view security and defense. We went on a helicopter ride. You saw

the natural environment that we live in, and I've always said that Icelanders have a

much more and bigger mindset that they think they have. We don't have a military

here, but Icelanders are used to living under natural uncertainty. we

have very strong civil protection here, very strong search and rescue, and this mindset is

going to transfer very well into other areas of defense, so

we are well prepared here for whatever might happen. we obviously

are, are facing these risks right now. You saw the, the volcanic eruption with your

with your very own eyes, and it was very interesting for us to go into

Grindavík. so there are challenges ahead, but there's also a lot of, opportunity

for cooperation going forward. we've discussed, briefly, and

and can happily share here if I just go over this before I give you

the word dear Ursula, that we've decided to launch negotiations on

a security and defense partnership, and this is something that we're hoping to finish by

the end of the year, maybe over the course of a couple of months, this

is very important for us. To show that we can have cooperation in critical infrastructure

civil protection, any sort of dual use defense investment, and this also

includes hybrid and and cyber threats. This is very important for Iceland and shows

that we have a deep trust between these two areas. I want to add to

that that we can announce. That we've concluded the negotiations

on our participation in the secure connectivity program for those that don't know what

that means obviously Iceland is very dependent on cables

any type of of connectivity that comes here and helps us basically live our daily

lives here in Iceland, but also from a security perspective. and with this we

we, will get access to satellite backup, which is gonna be very important

for our, our defense here and way of life. I also wanna mention here trade

we are opening up, a comprehensive, trade review

that we haven't seen basically since we joined the EEA. So there's a lot of

opportunities there that I'm looking forward to, to seeing what comes out of. The Arctic

I know, is of interest to the EU and there we are active participants and

and they're looking forward to seeing what comes out of your Arctic strategy, so

there's a lot of interesting, focus points for us in cooperation, and I

just wanna say towards the end here, the Ursula, These are times

that truly call for calm and decisive leadership. I think you've shown the world, not

just Europeans, what an incredible leader you are, and we are very honored that you're

here with us today, and looking forward to an ongoing relationship. Thank you.