Sweden to host NATO conference
Published
On 3–5 November, Sweden will host a NATO conference in Stockholm on civilian planning. At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague in June, NATO adopted a guidance to strengthen and develop Allies’ civilian planning efforts in support of the Alliance’s defence plans.
Both military and civil representatives from Allies and NATO institutions will attend the conference. The primary objective is to increase participants’ knowledge of NATO’s guidance for civilian planning and promote civil-military collaboration. Minister for Defence Pål Jonson and Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin will participate at the conference.
“NATO’s civilian planning seamlessly overlaps with the ongoing rearmament of Sweden’s total defence. This involves the whole of society participating and contributing to defence efforts in order to protect the country and the Alliance. Sweden hosting a NATO conference on civil planning is a testament to the hard work that we have put in in recent years,” says Minister for Civil Defence Bohlin.
“Civil defence is a prerequisite for military strength. Through NATO’s joint civilian planning work, we strengthen both our national resilience and the Alliance’s collective defence capability,” says Minister for Defence Jonson.
Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Michael Claesson and Director General of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency Mikael Frisell will present the document ‘’Planning assumptions for the development of the Swedish total defence 2025-2030’’ at a panel discussion. Other panel discussions will focus on exchange of experience regarding how civil planning can strengthen military defence.
Johan Berggren, State Secretary to the Minister for Civil Defence, will moderate several of the discussions.
In connection with the conference, there will be an opportunity for the media to conduct interviews. See press contacts below. Attendance is subject to available space.
NATO’s work on resilience and civil preparedness
The aim of NATO’s civil preparedness efforts is to strengthen the Alliance’s resilience, i.e. society’s capability of resisting and recovering from major disturbances and crises such as hybrid attacks, armed attacks, disruption of critical infrastructure and natural disasters.
Civil preparedness has three core functions:
• continuity of government and critical government services;
• continuity of essential services to the population; and
• ensuring civil support to military operations.
Resilience and civil preparedness are a national responsibility, but are at the same time considered a collective commitment within NATO. The principle of resilience is rooted in Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Each Ally’s individual measures to maintain and strengthen national resilience reduce the vulnerability of the Alliance as a whole and raise the threshold for a potential attack.
Press contact
Press Secretary to Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin
Phone (switchboard) +46 8 405 10 00
Acting Press Secretary to Minister for Defence Pål Jonson
Phone (switchboard) +46 8 405 10 00
