(Bloomberg) -- The Nordic countries are working to increase scrutiny of foreign investments from countries such as China and nations they don't have a security cooperation agreements with in order to safeguard key infrastructure and technology.
Meeting as part of the Nordic Council, the prime minister of the five nations discussed foreign direct investments in both physical infrastructure and in sensitive data technology, according to acting Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.
“It is an issue that concerns us all and we also see a pattern of increased activity in our Nordic region,” he said at a joint press conference in Oslo.
Sweden is seeking to monitor and control these activities better and is also discussing framework for screening foreign direct investments and increasing our protection at the European Union level, he said.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that while foreign investments are “crucial” to the nation's welfare, there's no room to be “naive.”
“In a few cases, foreign investments can cause risk to national security and public order,” he said at the press conference.
The Nordic nations are lining up their positions as part of the ongoing work in the European Commission on screening investments, Rasmussen said. “A common coordinated Nordic position is crucial if we want a successful outcome of these negotiations,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sveinung Sleire in Oslo at ssleire1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net
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