Minister of Fisheries, Mr. Svein Ludvigsen

Trondheim 11 ^th> of august 2003

Distinguished Ministers and excellencies

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of the Norwegian Government, it is a great pleasure and honour to welcome you all to Norway, Trondheim and to Aqua Nor 2003.

I would like to give a quick review about this historic region of our country. Trondheim is well known as the goal for pilgrimage from the northern of Europe. The great Norwegian viking king Olav Haraldsson was killed in the battle at Stiklestad in year 1030, and was later sanctified.

Historians consider the battle as decisive for the dissemination of Christian faith, because Norway became christianized more or less within that year. The battle at Stiklestad is considered as on of the most important individual events in Norwegian history. The Nidaros cathedral is built upon the grave of the sainted king, St. Olav. For centuries, pilgrims has come to Trondheim to visit the holy grave of St. Olav.

Nidaros, which is the ancient name of this area, still in modern times plays an important symbolic role in constitutional ceremonies, such as coronation and the bishop’s blessing of Norwegians monarchs. Our present king Harald V and Queen Sonja were blessed here in 1991, and their daughter princess Märtha Louise married here last year.

Ladies and gentlemen!

Norway is one of the world’s leading exporters of fish. The seafood export last year totalled more than 29 billion Norwegian kroner. 11 billion of this amount comes from fish farming. That is 1.4 billion in EURO and 1.5 billion in US dollar.

The rapid global growth in fish farming is based upon knowledge and experiences gained over a long period. However, in Norway fish farming in the ocean is a new industry. Only thirty years have gone past since a couple of Norwegians did their first attempts to grow salmon in a net cage in the sea. In no more than thirty years, Norwegian aquaculture has grown from close to nothing into a modern, high technology industry.

In the 70thies, the emerging industry was characterized by homemade equipment, creative approaches, and farmers needed basic support and knowledge from both marine and political authorities.

Today, several of these companies are supporting fish farmers worldwide. National and international suppliers together with scientific institutions have interacted with the fish farmers during the expansion period resulting in innovations and the new industry. New products are continuously being introduced, hand in hand with innovations that have made the industry profitable. Over the years the participants have build a substantial expertise within many fields to develop a sustainable and future-oriented aquaculture industry.

So, what can we learn from the past?

A healthy marine environment is essential for this industry! Coastal and marine environments are under increasing pressure throughout the world. Norway is no exception. In many cases, development is carried out with insufficient knowledge to impacts on ecosystems.

A central goal in the Norwegian Government's policy for the marine environment is to establish a framework that makes it possible to strike a balance between commercial interests – the fisheries, aquaculture and petroleum industries, for example – while adhering to the principles of sustainable development. We must therefore ensure that the marine environment is clean, and we must have systems that ensure that products are safe to eat.

As we know, there is an increasingly strong focus on food safety globally. The Norwegian industry exports to more than 150 countries. Obviously, food safety is absolutely critical for us. The basic requirements for food safety can only be met by active efforts from both authorities and the industry. It is of key interest to all that recommendations and decisions are science-based and transparent.

Especially, it is of great importance to have the confidence of consumers at all times.

And as I talk about the global opinion on the worldwide aquaculture industry, I will take the opportunity to address the issues of environmental conscience. In this reference I talk about both the biological and the social understanding of the term. This request is adressed to all of us, and not at least to Norwegian companies placed abroad.

Another key factor for the Norwegian success is related to our tradition of openness and the willingness to share information. Information is shared between all major participants in and outside the industry. The aquaculture industry in Norway has been recognised by innovative thinking and creativity based on exchange of expertise, competition and cooperation.

Already, the aquaculture industry has to deal with new emerging technologies. In particular I think of:

• Biotechnology
• Information technology
• Nano technology.

- Biotechnology has already been a useful tool in research and development in the new fields of nutrition and vaccines.

- Future development of IT will have an impact on future fish farming.

- The more unknown nano technology, may for instance help us to create novel materials adapted for marine or food industry usage.

To continue the innovative force in the industry in the next 30 years, it is of major importance that all participants are open-minded to the global development in science and technology.

Traditionally Norwegian key industries as shipping, fishing and petroleum have been of great importance for technology used in fish farming. Their knowledge in maritime constructions and material technology has enabled constructions of new and better sea cages to move farms from fjords and shallow waters to more exposed areas.

The two students Andreas Ytterland and Endre Kvalheim, which are present here this evening, are excellent examples of innovative thinking. They were awarded the first price in Venture Cup (a national inventor competition) this year. They invented an offshore system for fish farming as opposed to traditional costal farming. The inventors Ytterland and Kvalheim have designed the installation by using technology and material in a new way. The invention represents a significant move towards industrialised fish farming.

Among the top ten at the same contest as I have already mentioned there were other inventions which can be related to aquaculture. This pinpoints how this future orientated sector, triggers young people to look for solutions in new ways and within different diciplines.

As these inventions represents the long term perspective within aquaculture challenges, the novel products which are displayed here in Trondheim, at the exhibition AquaNor 2003, represents the current challenges which the industry must take care of in their everyday management. Many of these products will, when implemented in practical fish farming, be contributing to move the industry forward.

The Norwegian fish farming industry has been under a continuous change, but salmon and trout are still the dominant products. We are still waiting for the big commercial breakthrough for other marine species. Cod farming has been in focus for a while and we have seen remarkable progress on the technical side.

I am encouraged by the enthusiasm the entrepreneurs and scientists that I meet in this field and they have presented us with some real impressive results.

In my opinion there is a great potential for a further growth in seafood products worldwide. Despite several rounds of negotiations in GATT and WTO, the average tariff rates on fish and fisheries products are still high, with tariff peaks and tariff escalations.

The large amount of non-tariff barriers such as standards, licences and quotas are also restrictive when it comes to trade.

However, we all know that this industry is a biological one, with all the challenges this causes. Not at least does this affect the ability to create a predictable supply for the market due to the conciderable variations on the production side.

Nevertheless, in this picture the producers do hold a responsibility to ensure a healthy balace in the market, in terms of equalizing supply and demand. In this regard the role of the Government is to prepare and conduct the appropriate phramework to make sure the industry itself can develope and expand.

For Norway the trade in seafood is of great importance. It is a main goal for the Norwegian government to ensure the best possible market access for Norwegian seafood. Therefore, the ongoing round of negotiations in WTO is vital for us.

We believe that the fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancún, Mexico, in September will be an important possibility to create momentum in these negotiations, although a lack of progress in the agriculture negotiations seems to be causing difficulties in other areas of negotiations.

Last week I opened a conference here in Trondheim, organized by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A special sub - committee on aquaculture has been established under FAO and over 150 delegates from 60 different countries + 15 delegates from non-governmental organizations were present. I want to emphasize the importance of FAOs conferences on aquaculture AND that of AquaNor, they are indeed closely related.

Due to the sub- committees young age, one of the main topics has been to find the agenda and which topics to focus on in a way that will contribute to a sustainable development within the many divisions in the global aquaculture sector. And the conference which has taken place the last days has in a fruitful and constructive way contributed to reach this aim.

It is important to be aware of the fact that his comite also is ment to contribute to a sustainable development on each of FAOs 183 memberstates.

Hence, I want to challenge FAO to consider the value of having these conferences at the same place every second year, namely here in Trondheim.