The European Union has signed an Agreement with Norway and Iceland allowing both countries to join GOVSATCOM and the Secure Connectivity Programme, IRIS\u00b2. The Agreement highlights the EU\u2019s commitment to cooperation with those countries.<\/p>\n
Secure, uninterrupted and rapidly deployable satellite connectivity is essential for security, resilience and emergency response in remote regions. In an area with limited infrastructure, these services provide reliable connectivity for public authorities and emergency services while protecting sensitive information and supporting safe air and maritime navigation.<\/p>\n
The EU GOVSATCOM, operational since January 2026, together with the Secure Connectivity Programme will further enhance the capabilities of Iceland and Norway in areas such as crisis management, secure government operations and disaster response, climate monitoring or environmental protection. Improved connectivity is also expected to benefit remote communities, including access to healthcare.<\/p>\n
The Agreement was signed by European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius on behalf of the EU alongside Ms Cecilie Myrseth Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry and Mr Stef\u00e1n Haukur J\u00f3hannesson, Ambassador of Iceland to the EU.<\/p>\n
It marks a further step in strengthening cooperation with key partners.<\/p>\n
Norway\u2019s and Iceland\u2019s participation in these programmes and their access to associated services will help them strengthening their connectivity as well as the EU\u2019s role as a global actor and will support international cooperation, in line with the Space Strategy for Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccess to both GOVSATCOM and, IRIS\u00b2 will reinforce the response by Iceland and Norway to security and economic challenges while strengthening Europe\u2019s global position,\u201d said Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u2018\u2019The agreement marks a significant step towards bringing Norway closer to EU\u2019s work on security, resilience and technological independence in space. Norway has great space infrastructure and technology to offer when it comes to space. We are living in uncertain times, during which the need for European autonomy is continuously growing. It is therefore important that we work together when the EU is developing its new space programs, says the Minister of Trade and Industry Cecilie Myrseth.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019Our participation in the Secure Connectivity and the Govsatcom Programmes will contribute to strengthening the security and resilience of our communications with the wider world. For Iceland this is essential and demonstrates the concrete benefits of working closer with the EU in this area\u2019\u2019 said \u00a0HE Stef\u00e1n Haukur J\u00f3hannesson, Ambassador of Iceland to the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Union has signed an Agreement with Norway and Iceland allowing both countries to join GOVSATCOM and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2005,39,40,2869],"class_list":{"0":"post-8622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-defence-industry","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-european-union","11":"tag-space-industry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}