Programme abroad & 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service

Press conference 7 June 2004

Objectives and themes

The objectives of the centennial programme abroad are:

• to make more people aware of Norway
• to update Norway’s image
• to mark 100 years of close ties with partner countries, showing our interdependence with other countries
• to emphasise Norway’s wholehearted participation in the international community, both in 2005, and in the future.

In addition to the logical focus on Norway’s relations with Sweden, the programme abroad will be concentrated on Denmark, the UK, Russia, the USA, Germany, France, Japan, China, South Africa and India.

The main themes are as follows:

• Norway – a partner in peace and development. The objective is to show Norway’s participation in international co-operation and its role in peace mediation and conflict resolution.
• Norway – a nation rich in resources. Here the focus will be on Norway’s relationship with the natural environment, showing that it exploits its rich natural resources in an environmentally sustainable way and is a reliable energy supplier.
• Norway – a modern nation. The objective is to focus on Norway’s position as a modern society based on knowledge and with a rich culture. The objective is to display the diversity, renewal and expertise that characterise Norway.

The 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service

• A permanent exhibition on the Foreign Service will be opened on 7 June 2005 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7.junipl/Victoria terrasse. The exhibition will illustrate the key values that have been the cornerstone of Norwegian foreign policy over the last hundred years and that have influenced the organisation and working methods of the Ministry. The exhibition will feature the past, present and future, and will contain objects, texts, photographs and audiovisual/web-based presentations, including an interactive game where players can experience for themselves what the Foreign Service does and the challenges it faces.

• A richly illustrated book written by Iver Neumann and Hallvard Leira of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs on the development of the foreign service from 1905 to 2005. The book describes the history and inner workings of the service and sets it in the broader context of society, both at home and abroad. The book is aimed at readers who are interested in international relations and foreign policy.

• Several of the conferences and seminars to be held abroad in 2005 (see below) will be on topics related to the 100 ^th> anniversary of the foreign service. This applies for example to a Norwegian-Swedish conference on peaceful conflict resolution in Stockholm in April 2005.

• A number of television programmes will be made with the support of the Ministry, focusing on the role and activities of the foreign service.

Programme abroad: examples of events and projects

Visits

• The Swedish King and Queen make a visit to Norway on 10-11 June 2005.Opening of the new bridge over Svinesund and of the Peace Centre in Oslo.
• The Norwegian King and Queen make a visit to Sweden on 1-2 September 2005.
• The Norwegian King and Queen make a visit to Denmark on 7-8 November 2005.
• The Norwegian King and Queen make a visit to the UK in the second half of 2005.
• The Norwegian King and Queen, and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess make a visit to the USA in February-March and October 2005, respectively.
• A high-level visit from Japan to Norway in 2005.
• The Crown Prince and Crown Princess visit EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan, in April 2005.

More detailed information on the visits, including dates and programmes, will be published at a later date.

Examples of seminars and conferences

• Nordic Peace Diplomacy. Looking back – Moving forward. A conference on Nordic peace diplomacy in February in Copenhagen, in co-operation with Danish foreign policy institutions. On modern peace diplomacy and the competitive advantages of the Nordic countries.
• The Position of Women in Norway and France 1905-2005. Seminar on the women’s century in March 2005 in Paris. In co-operation with French political authorities and academic institutions.
• Seminar on international peace efforts, reconciliation and democracy in March-April 2005 in Paris, in co-operation with French foreign policy institutions and their Norwegian counterparts. Similar seminars are planned in South Africa and at a number of US universities with links to Scandinavia/Norway.
• Conference on peace and conflict resolution including current UN issues in April in Stockholm. To be opened by the two countries’ foreign ministers.
• Norway as a country rich in resources. Seminar on energy, natural resources and the environment in March-April in Paris. In co-operation with the Norwegian and French business communities.
• Medcoast Scandinavia. Scandinavian co-operation on an international conference on biotechnology on 4-6 April in Copenhagen. Industrial innovation, current biotechnology research, development of interfaces between policy, research and industry.
• Norwegian-Swedish conference on the growth of democracy, to be held on 23 September in Karlstad, Sweden, and opened by the two countries’ prime ministers. On citizens’ rights, participation, elections, etc.
• “Fra tvillingriket til rike tvillinger?” (provisional title). A conference on value creation in the future in Norway and Denmark in November 2005 in Copenhagen.
• A symposium on “Nansen & Nobel” in Japan in November 2005. Peace and humanitarian issues. In co-operation with university institutions in Tokyo.

Music. Examples of events and projects

• Fresh Air. A one-night pop/rock/electronics festival at Fabric, one of London’s best-known clubs. Featuring several Norwegian bands and DJs, and visual elements. To be recorded by BBC Radio.
• Contemporary music festival Presences in Paris. Radio France’s internationally renowned festival, in January-February, will feature composer Lasse Thoresen, and introduce a number of Norwegian composers, ensembles and soloists. To be broadcast to other European radio stations.
• The Northwest Passage – a Festival of Modern Norwegian Music. Co-operation between the San Francisco Jazz Festival (the largest on the West Coast) and the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. Exchanges of artists and activities in 2004 and 2005.
• Norwegian Voices. A performance in December 2005 at the Barbican Centre in London, with musical, literary and visual elements, produced by Serious, the UK’s leading jazz producer. New works and texts, and British graphic design. Focus on contemporary Norwegian jazz. Co-operation partners include Vossajazz, Vestnorsk Jazzsenter and the Norwegian Concert Institute. Children and young people will be involved and the performance will be recorded by BBC Radio.
• Late Junction – Norway in Focus. A series of programmes on Norwegian music from 1905 to 2005 in a popular British radio programme on BBC Radio 3.
• There will be a focus on co-operation, exchanges and education in the field of music in South Africa and India. The active co-operation that already exists between institutions in Norway (such as the Norwegian opera, the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Norwegian Choir Association and the Norwegian Concert Institute) and their counterparts in these countries will be further developed and enhanced in 2005. In South Africa a series of articles on Norwegian music and bilateral music co-operation will be published in the magazine Classic Feel and broadcast on Classic FM. In India exchanges with Norwegian schools of the arts are planned.
• BLÅ (“blue”), an independent club in Oslo for live, contemporary jazz. The Foreign Ministry will provide support for several of BLÅ’s international projects, which will be part of the 2005 programme: i) a tour to bring the BLÅ concept to eight other towns all over the world, ii) the “All Ears” festival, which is being held in Oslo and Stockholm at the same time, and iii) “Music under Ground”, a new concept that will be promoted in a number of other countries. BLÅ also co-operates with jazz clubs and musicians in Russia, the USA, South Africa, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Spain.

Examples of exhibitions

• 100 Jahre – 100 Themen. A Norwegian-German exhibition showing the diversity and range of the ties between the two countries from 1905 to 2005. It will open at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo on 15 October 2005 and will go on to Germany in 2006. This exhibition is targeted mainly at children and young people.
• Norway and Russia – Neighbours for 1000 Years was opened on 2 June at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. In April 2005 it will open at the Russian Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg. The exhibition shows the many and diverse contacts between Norway and Russia over the last millennium.
• C for Courage, an exhibition on children’s rights, see below.
• Kongen og folket/Brödrefolkets väl. Maihaugen – De Sandvigske samlinger in Lillehammer and Livrustkammaren in Stockholm are co-operating on this exhibition, which is about the Swedish-Norwegian kings during the period of union between the two countries, from King Karl Johan to King Oscar II. It opens in February 2005 in Lillehammer and in autumn 2005 in Stockholm.
• Norwegians and Swedes will open at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in March 2005 and at the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm in October 2005. A different version of the exhibition is opening in Hillerød, Denmark, in September 2004.
• Style and Splendour: Queen Maud of Norway’s Wardrobe 1896-1938, mounted by Nasjonalmuseet and the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Norway, will be shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London from February 2005 to January 2006. The exhibition deals with the ties between the two Royal Families, cultural history, design, fashion and textiles.
• An exhibition on missions and their work with schools and health under the auspices of the Centre for Intercultural Communication in Norway is opening in Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa in spring 2005. It will show old photographs, hand-drawn maps from the 1850s and water-colours in connection with the Norwegian Missionary Society’s work in South Africa.
• An exhibition on Sverre Fehn’s architectural designs in co-operation with the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, combined with a symposium on architecture.

Examples of other cultural and academic projects

• “The State of the Nation 2005” is a literary project consisting of seminars, lectures, presentations of special themes, readings and book presentations with a focus on the concept of “nation”. This series of activities will tour from Edinburgh (at the Edinburgh International Book Fair in August) via Stavanger (at the Kapittel festival in early September) to Gothenburg (at the Bok- och Biblioteksmässan book fair in September-October).
• The research project “Norway-Japan 1905-2005” is a study of the political, economic and cultural aspects of the co-operation between Norway and Japan over the last 100 years. The results will be published in book form in 2005-2006.
• “Norway Days” at Skansen and elsewhere in Stockholm in May 2005, including the celebration of 17 May, Norway’s Constitution Day. The programme includes an exhibition of Norwegian arts and crafts and a conference of historians at Nordiska Museet. Details will be published later. The Centennial Anniversary will be celebrated at Skansen on 31 December 2004 in connection with the traditional New Year celebrations there.
• Norway will be the main country featured at the Nordic-Baltic cultural festival in Caen, France, in November 2005. Contemporary literature, film, dance, music, painting and design.
• Norway will exhibit at EXPO 2005, Aichi, Japan, in March-September 2005,with a focus on man and nature. There will be a cultural and promotional programme in connection with Norway Day on 11 April and in other Japanese cities.
• An essay competition will be held on Norway’s role in peace processes for all those studying Norwegian/Norway at educational institutions abroad that teach Scandinavian studies.

Examples of projects targeted at children and young people

• C for Courage, an international touring exhibition on children’s rights and living conditions over the last 100 years, in Norway and other countries. The exhibition has been developed and produced in co-operation with the Norwegian Children’s Museum in Stavanger, and will tour 10 countries, with a focus on India, China and South Africa. The target groups are children aged 7-12, teachers/schools, organisations, the media, decision-makers and others.
• The Norwegian Festival in Central Park, New York/Norway Run. In 2005 this large annual event will take place on 2 October. It is a co-operation between the New York Road Runners Club, UNICEF, Grete Waitz and a number of others. Norway Run has become a family event, with arrangements especially for children and young people in addition to the actual race. There will be a focus on health, welfare and exchanges, and a more pronounced social profile. This will include an exchange where children and young people from New York take part in a sporting event in Norway and vice versa.
• “Look at Norway” is an Internet-based package (part 2) for British children aged 8-11, presenting the main outlines of Norwegian geography, history and society. The package will be taught as part of the ordinary curriculum, and will be sent to all British primary schools on a CD-ROM.

All this information and more will be available at: www.2005.norway.info

This website, for which the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible, will be the main channel for information on the Centennial Anniversary celebrations. The site will contain information on all the events and other activities that are to be arranged in other countries in 2005. It will also provide background information on the Centennial Anniversary and the foreign service’s 100 ^th> anniversary, and will have links to the co-operation partners, including Selskapet Norge 2005, which is co-ordinating the programme in Norway. Norway Portal in the 11 countries on which the celebrations will be concentrated will have detailed information in the local languages.