Your Excellency, Foreign Minister, honourable Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to this luncheon here in Abuja. This is my first visit to Nigeria, and I can assure you that I have been very much looking forward to it.

Since the summer of 1998 Nigeria has undergone major change. I have been following developments closely. The progress that has been made in the last year is promising. I am particularly pleased that democratically elected institutions are now in place, and that human rights is being given high priority.

The promotion of human rights and fundamental freedom should be at the heart of all politics. We must all strive to ensure that political and civil rights, as well as social, cultural and economic rights be respected. And this goes for Norway as for Nigeria.

Nigeria has been led by a democratically elected government for less than a year. My visit is an expression of my country's desire to support and build strong and lasting relations with a democratic Nigeria.

This morning we had an interesting and productive exchange of views on international and bilateral issues. This demonstrated our common interests in a number of fields.

Nigeria has been one of Norway's most important trading partners in Africa for many years. For a long time major export commodity was stockfish. Norwegian stockfish exporters will continue to work in the Nigerian market. They offered us the opportunity and the pleasure of tasting stockfish at this luncheon.

Shipping is another traditional field of Norwegian business in Nigeria. Your country constitutes an important market for Norwegian shipping companies, trading in almost all sectors.

Your Excellency,

There is a huge potential for expanding business relations in other sectors as well, the oil and energy sector being the most obvious. Your country - like Norway - has for years been a major exporter of petroleum. In this field we should expand our contacts and start working closer together.

I have been told that the Nigerian people are born traders - talented, resourceful, imaginative and creative. In a climate that is conducive to sound commercial and financial transactions, I am confident that Nigerian businesspeople, brokers and entrepreneurs can make Nigeria a powerful player in the field of international trade.

Your country possesses a wide range of minerals, great potential in the agro-business sector, valuable timber, and abundant fish stocks.

These are all areas of great interest to Norwegian companies. I hope that this visit will pave the way for increased trade and other forms of commercial relations between our two countries. For this purpose, the Norwegian Trade Council is organising a seminar focusing on telecommunications, energy and water supply and sanitation.

Predictable multilateral conditions of trade are important both for Nigeria and Norway. It is regrettable that the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle did not reach agreement on the launch of a new round of broad trade negotiations. We still believe that the early launch of broad multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of the WTO will result in a further strengthening and broadening of the WTO rules, and in further trade liberalization. It will thereby serve the interests of all members of the WTO.

One of the main issues in the context of a new round is safeguarding the interests of developing countries. The WTO must strengthen its internal cohesion. WTO members must make a concerted effort to ensure that developing countries be better integrated into the world trading system on just terms .

Ladies and gentlemen,

Developing business relations is of course the business of business itself. As governments we can only try to facilitate, encourage, offer information and advice, and to some degree supplement the marketing activities of the companies. As both Norwegians and Nigerians share a passion for soccer, let me try to illustrate my point by referring to the Government as the team player that is at his best without the ball. His job is to make the right strategic manoeuvers, create openings, encourage his team mates and sometimes advice them on how they may benefit from closer cooperation. But he leaves the passes, the dribling and the scoring to the other players. Sometimes -and maybe even most of the time the ball players will do fine without his support. At other times his services may be quite helpful. The challenge lies in drawing the right line between ‘hands on’ and ‘hands off’ policies.

Now, I would like you to join me in a toast to Nigeria and to you, Your Excellency, to the members of the Nigerian delegation, and to fruitful and close relations between our countries in the years to come.