The Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Mr. Svein Ludvigsens speech on reception organized by Lerøy Seafood Group – Brussels 26 April 2005

Dear Mr. Ambassador, Honourable Member of EU-Parliament, Mr. Lerøy, Ladies and Gentleman.

It’s a pleasure to be here tonight and meet so many friends of Norway and friends of Lerøy Seafood, and last but not least, friends of quality Seafood from Norway.

The Seafood from Norway has a distinctive quality, formed by our climate, knowledge and culture. Norwegian Seafood is sold and appreciated around the world, and is a well-appreciated product in the international cuisine.

For Norway it is extremely important not merely to be a large producer, but also to be a reliable exporter of high-quality and safe seafood.

In the wake of the globalization processes, production and marketing of a product must meet new demands. There has been a drastic change over the past couple of decades with respect to “who” sets the standards.

The power of the consumer is growing. Consumers are aware and awake. This is, however, to be expected and, indeed, as it should be.

A fundamental element of Norwegian food policy is that the food shall be safe and conform to consumer preferences.

The industry needs to respond to consumers’ concerns and demands. I can assure you that the Norwegian Industry recognizes this new trend, and that both the industry and the government in Norway will continue to provide the buyers with the information they request.

The modern consumers want to eat more seafood; therefore I call the modern consumers our friends! Best of all is that they prefer the fish fresh.

The distance from the fishing or farming locations to the market is therefore critical. Norway’s geographic position gives us a great opportunity to serve the European consumers with fresh products.

At the seafood exposition today I launched the Norwegian Seafood Export Council’s campaign - “Fresh cod from Norway all year around”. In the cause of three decades, Norway has become the world’s largest producer of Atlantic salmon. Last year, the production exceeded 500.000 tons.

We have done it with salmon. Now we are doing it with cod!

Stable supply of fresh cod from Norway all year around - is it a dream? No, this is possible by wild catch when in season, and by cod from aquaculture outside of the catching seasons.

Norwegian companies are investing a great deal of money in research and development to ensure that farmed cod becomes a profitable line of business. And together with cod from wild catch this will meet the consumers’ demand.

Norwegian seafood exports to the EU in 2004 amounted to 2 billion Euros. This was 60 % of our total exports. For Norway, this industry is vital to our fragile communities along our long coastline.

Norwegian salmon is our largest single seafood product. As I have already mentioned, during three decades the Norwegian salmon farmers have worked hard to become efficient and high-quality producers. And to serve the world markets with a healthy and tasty product. I am proud of this development.

Success usually comes at a price. In our case we have been meet with protectionism by people who do not embrace the principles of free and fair trade. For nearly 15 years, there has been some form of restriction – or threats of restrictions – on exports of Norwegian salmon into the EU market. We have experienced threats of anti-dumping and anti-subsidies measures, and we had minimum price to the EU during the 6-year long Salmon Agreement. Trade measures are supposed to be a temporary state of affairs, not the normal course of business as is the situation today.

Norwegian producers wish to sell their products in a market free for any disruptions. This is to the benefit of everyone; the authorities, the producers and processors, as well as and most important, the consumers. A consequence of this protectionism is that consumers pay a higher price than necessary.

Nevertheless, over the last 18 months we have experienced a massive and rushed pursuit for new trade distorting measures. The measures are called for by a very small group of Scottish and Irish producers and carried out by the European Commission. Both preliminary and definitive safeguard measures have been implemented and then lifted for imports of salmon. The last turn in the case has entailed preliminary antidumping measures, which will be effective as from tomorrow 27 April and for the next 6 months.

We cannot see that the WTO criterias neither for safeguards nor for anti-dumping duties, are meet. It is astonishing how the European Commission is able to calculate heavy losses for Norwegian producers. Most Norwegian producers’ audited accounts show a healthy profit in 2004. To be accused of collective dumping seems very peculiar – to us.

The Norwegian Government is gravely concerned about the methodology and the hasty time schedule provided by the Commission. We fear that we will not get a fair and unbiased assessment in this case. This also explains why the Norwegian Cabinet is regarding the salmon cases as a vendetta against Norwegian salmon farmers. It also explains why our involvement has been and continues to be determined and highly active.

Norway’s seafood industry is dependant on fair and stable trade conditions. We therefore have no option but to utilize our rights as WTO-members and bring the salmon cases to the Dispute Settlement Mechanism in the WTO.

We have all the time been willing to discuss a mutually satisfactory solution with the Commission. However, any solution must be within the WTO-framework.

All we want is a fair and just treatment of salmon according to international trade rules established by the World Trade Organization. This will serve the interests of European importers, processors and consumers.

Free trade will allow even more fresh, healthy and tasty salmon from the whole world to be enjoyed by consumers globally.

To succeed, Norwegian seafood is dependent on fair access to the important markets. And the European market is one of these – it is considered to be our home market!

Despite the very heavy challenges related to the trade policy area, I will end my short address this evening by wishing you all success in your business. I suppose the reason why you are present here tonight to a large extent is related to the promotion of Norwegian seafood.