Foreign Minister Jan Petersen will visit St. Petersburg, Moscow and Murmansk from 5 to 9 April. His programme will focus on political, commercial and cultural co-operation.

Foreign Minister Petersen’s visit is an important part of the commemoration of Norway’s centennial anniversary as an independent state. 2005 is also the centennial anniversary of diplomatic relations between Norway and Russia.. Russia was the first country to recognise Norway as an independent nation in 1905. Mr Petersen’s visit is the first of a series of events that will held throughout Russia in connection with the anniversary.

Foreign Minister Petersen and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will open the exhibition Norway-Russia: Neighbours for a Thousand Years in St. Petersburg on 6 April. The exhibition, which was previously shown at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, is one of the high points of Norwegian-Russian cultural co-operation so far.

On 7 April, Foreign Minister Petersen will open an international conference on peace and conflict resolution, together with Foreign Minister Lavrov, in Moscow. He will also have bilateral political talks with Mr Lavrov.

Mr Petersen will attend the première of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, which is a co-production between the Norwegian Opera and the music community in Murmansk, on 8 April. He will also open an oil and gas seminar organised by Statoil in Murmansk.

The contact person during the visit is Assistant Director General Øyvind Stokke, tel.: 91 18 75 60.

More information on the centennial anniversary celebration in Russia can be found at http://www.norvegia.ru/norsk/centennialanniversary2005/2005program.htm