Iceland to launch negotiations on security, defence partnership with EU

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Iceland will launch talks on a security and defence partnership with the European Union, Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said on Thursday at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Keflavik.

Frostadottir said she was hoping to conclude talks by the end of the year.

"This is very important for us to show that we can have cooperation on critical infrastructure, civil protection, any sort of dual use defence investment and this also includes hybrid and cyber threats," she said.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Alexandra Hudson)