New Defence Agreement with US

"The United States will defend Iceland when necessary, with all their armed forces," said Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde yesterday afternoon when announcing the new defence agreement between Iceland and the US.

The agreement will replace the presence of US armed forces at the Keflavík base in Iceland. Haarde added that the agreement included response on various kinds of dangers and that under dangerous circumstances, Iceland would contact the US before notifying NATO.

The Icelandic government will appoint a delegate to communicate with the US Army authorities and to obtain military information. This delegate will be based at the European operations base in Stuttgart, Germany, and another Icelandic delegate wil be apponted to the NATO military council in the Netherlands.

The first formal defence meeting will take place soon in Reykjavik when Nicholas Burns, deputy Secretary of Defence will come to Iceland. The US army will hold regular military practice in Iceland, which the Prime Minister believes to be important so that US commitment is visible and credible. " Preparations for the first military practce begin soon and is scheduled for June next year." said the Prime Minister.