The start of the Nordic friendship startet when scout leader Willy G. Johansen from Askim was awarded the Huddinge Plaque in 1968. He was thus invited to take part in the municipal friendship conference in 1969. There he became acquainted with a scout leader couple, and the first contact between leaders in Askim and Huddinge was established. They agreed to establish closer ties, and the result was a friendship visit by 22 scouts from Huddinge in October 1969, a very successful event.

Things developed further when the Huddinge Fritidsnemn invited scout leaders from Vaanda, Lyngby, Askim and Huddinge to a “vänortskonferens” (twin-town conference). The conference was held at Bålingsholm on 16–17 October 1971. A total of 80 scout leaders participated (and it was agreed that a maximum of 20 from each country would participate in the future). This became the very first leader training course and has been held every year since 1971.

During the conference, the first Nordic committee was established with the following leaders: Helge Sander Jacobsen, Bernt Stigberth, John F. Fredriksen, and Willy G. Johansen.

In 1973, the first Nordtreff was arranged in Denmark, a scout camp with participants from the four friendship municipalities. Samples from the program included a Midsummer bonfire, an Olympic Day, a tour of Copenhagen with visits to the Round Tower and the Carlsberg brewery, and a trip to Tivoli.

The next Nordtreff camp was then arranged in Sweden in 1982 and thereafter approximately every four years on a rotating basis.

In 1977, the activities were expanded to include five-event competitions for patrol scouts. Two patrols from each country then compete in first aid, orienteering, knots, one practical task, and one secret task. The five-event competition gradually developed into an annual event.

In recent years, a cyber 4-kamp competition has been organized online in January. Askim has used this as a qualification for the 5-kamp competition the same year, where the two best Norwegian patrols have been allowed to participate. After 2020, when the municipality of Askim was merged with Spydeberg, Eidsberg, Trøgstad and Hobøl to form Indre Østfold, scout groups from these former municipalities have also been part of the Nordic friendship.