Nordred – Nordic Cooperation on Rescue Services – is a cooperation agreement among the Nordic countries Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. The Nordic countries have a long tradition of co-operation, cross-border initiatives and have shared borders, yet before Nordred there was no legal framework regulating cross-border rescue services. The aim of Nordred (1989) is to promote and enable seamless and effective response to natural or man-made emergencies and crises that may affect any of the member countries.

Through Nordred Framework Agreement, the member states committed to assist each other in times of crises or accidents, by providing resources in the form of personnel and/or equipment and expertise. 

On a national level, the work is organised by a steering group called the Nordred Group responsible for overseeing and reviewing the Nordred Agreement, sharing knowledge and updates on developments in their countries, and promoting cross-border rescue service co-operation. Yet Nordred has varied in activity and engagement over the years and interruptions in the biannual meetings and regular conferences exist.

One objective of Nordred is to promote and enable cross-border rescue assistance at a local and regional level. With Nordred as a basis, several cross-border local agreements between Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark have been established. As such, several country administrative boards and municipalities in the Nordic border regions have their own sub-agreements and co-operations with cross-border assistance is provided continuously, without the involvement of national authorities. This is for example organised through three Border Rescue Councils between Norway and Sweden. Through the agreements, local agencies responsible for rescue services can make arrangements across the territorial border regarding rescue operations in the neighbouring country municipality. As a result, Nordic co-operation is an integral part of everyday work in many border regions in the field of rescue services, Nordred serves as an overall regulatory framework that facilitates and frames borderless rescue services. 

Find out more here:

https://www.nordred.org/