Throughout 2002 various events will be held to commemorate the launching of Norwegian development cooperation 50 years ago.

"Winning the fight against poverty is the greatest challenge of our time. For the past 50 years, Norway has been fighting in the cause of the world’s poor. It is an important beginning that we wish to commemorate," says Minister of International Development Hilde F. Johnson.

The commemoration will officially open today with a gala concert at the Oslo Concert Hall, to be attended by the Crown Prince Haakon and Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Ms. Johnson, who will be hosting the event, will also preside over the official opening of a Norwegian development cooperation exhibition. This is a travelling exhibition which will first be displayed at NORAD headquarters before being shown a number of places around the country.

• The Government’s Action Plan for Combating Poverty will be launched on 4 March. A symposium will be held in Oslo at which Amartya Sen, Indian economist and Nobel laureate in economics, will participate.
• In the course of this year, the Minister of International Development will hold a total of four regional meetings in various parts of the country. Although the topics of the meetings will vary somewhat, they will all focus on the Government’s Action Plan. The first meeting will be held in Fredrikstad on 9 April, the second in Bergen on 28 May, and the third and fourth are scheduled to be held in Kristiansand in September and in Trondheim in November.
• The anniversary will also be celebrated during the Norway Cup. The focus here will be on the role of sport in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
• A large-scale seminar on combating poverty will be held in Oslo on 17 October under the auspices of the Norwegian and Swedish development cooperation authorities.
• A //book/series of books*?// on Norwegian development cooperation will be launched at the end of October. //This is/these are*??// the work of a group of independent researchers who have been financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

International Conferences

Norway will be hosting a number of development-related conferences in 2002, which will also be presented in connection with the celebrations.

• A joint Nordic conference on the significance of education for development will be held in Oslo on 3 – 4 June. It will be preceded by a meeting of Nordic ministers of development cooperation.
• Norway will host the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics under the auspices of the World Bank at the end of June.
• In July the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD will be inviting all the major international development actors to a meeting in Norway.

In the course of the year, a number of international conferences will be held in the field of international development. Among these are Financing for Development, to be held in Mexico in March, the Children’s Summit at UN headquarters in New York in May, the World Food Summit at FAO headquarters in Rome in June, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio +10) to be held in Johannesburg at the end of August and beginning of September.

Contact person:

Jon Mørland, Head of Informationtel.: 90 77 02 06