Reception for the Diplomatic Corps

Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to Akershus castle!

I very much appreciate this opportunity to meet so many distinguished representatives of the diplomatic corps and close friends of Norway.

Being a diplomat, you have to master the language of international diplomacy. It may even become part of you, as it did to a United Nations diplomat.

One day he was in New York City's Central Park watching his daughter play on a ”seesaw” (på godt norsk: dumpehuske) with another little girl. To the diplomat's horror, he saw his daughter jump off her end of the seesaw while she was touching the ground, leaving her young friend to a crash landing on the other end. The diplomat comforted his daughter's frightened playmate and then turned on his own daughter in fury. "How many times," he said, "have I told you never to get off a seesaw unilaterally?"

In other words, it’s experiences from real life that make Norway such a strong supporter of multilateral solutions.

During Norway’s two year term as member of UN’s Security Council, the Norwegian ambassador to the United Nations has introduced a speech style that has been named “the Norwegian way” - meaning being brief and to the point.

I will try to follow his example in this welcome address, thus avoiding to get the same reputation as a politician in my home town (Molde). He gave the longest speeches you could imagine. They used to say of him that, "if you are young when he begins a speech, you will be old by the time he finishes."

Let me first share with you some thoughts on our current domestic situation.

Norway has a strong economy. Why is it so?

Many people seem to attribute this fact primarily to our oil and gas sector. It’s not that simple. On the contrary, our workforce is our most important asset. The value of that workforce is 15 times higher than the value of all our oil and gas reserves and the petroleum fund. That’s my first point.

I would like to underline a second point. The Norwegian economy benefits from a very high labour force participation rate. More than 80 per cent of all Norwegians in working age participate in the labour market.

This illustrates the prime challenge for us. In our economic policy – as for all European countries – we have to maintain the size and the quality of our labour force. That is a key element in my government’s economic policy.

Our strong government finances reflect not only high petroleum revenues, but a long tradition of fiscal discipline. Norway has had budget deficits on a general government basis for only 3 years out of the last 50.

So, we have been able to accumulate funds through hard work and high savings, more so than through windfalls from the petroleum sector.

In the present situation, the most urgent concern for economic policy is to create the conditions necessary for stable employment and to avoid an unsustainable downsizing of our industry.

The combination of high wage growth over several years and a stronger currency underlined the need for a tight budget for 2003.

And a tight budget it is. The real growth rate in Government expenditure from 2002 to 2003 is only one half of one per cent.

I am pleased with the budget agreement with the Progress Party. A broad majority in Parliament has endorsed a tight fiscal policy in line with my Government’s recommendation.

We have already seen that the tight budget has contributed to lower interest rates. That’s good for Norwegian industries, but also for families and local governments.

Within this prudent budget framework, my government has set out some main priorities:

• We want to provide better conditions for business and employment. For that reason we have embarked on a series of tax reductions.

• We want to increase the value of our most important asset - human capital. For that reason we propose reforms to improve the quality of research and education.
• We want to improve health and social services.
• We want to empower the families, to increase their freedom and assist those who need support.
• We want to fight poverty – in Norway and internationally. For that reason we have launched a new “anti-poverty package” to help those who are worst off here at home. And international aid and assistance is gradually being increased.

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me also turn briefly to the wider world.

The cornerstones of our relations with the European Union are the EEA-agreement, the Schengen Convention and agreements in the field of foreign, security and defence cooperation. My Government aims to further develop and strengthen this relationship.

Norway puts great emphasis on developing a close and constructive relationship with Russia. In November last year, President Putin made a successful visit to Norway. The whole array of bilateral and multilateral issues was on the table.

Next week I have invited my Russian and Nordic colleagues to Kirkenes in Northern Norway to celebrate ten years of Barents cooperation. We will explore avenues for future cooperation in the High North, so immensely rich in natural resources. The EU presidency and the European Commission are also parties to that collaboration.

Another important pillar in our foreign and security policy is our membership in NATO, and our longstanding friendship and close transatlantic ties with the United States of America and Canada.

Fighting for those who suffer under conflict and oppression, and helping those who live in poverty are of utmost importance to me in my political work.

During the last ten years, almost every major armed conflict has originated within a state rather than between states. The grim reality has been that almost nine out of ten killed in armed conflict have been civilians.

This is why Norway has played a very active role in peace-building efforts and in promoting human rights and democracy in many different parts of the world since the early 1990s.

This is why we today are actively involved as facilitator in connection with a number of internal conflicts as far apart as the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Guatemala and Sudan.

A few of the armed conflicts have been brought to a conclusion, while others are still going on.

We have just finished our two-year period as an elected member of the UN Security Council. I believe we have accomplished most of what we set out to do. But it is the nature of the work of the Security Council to deal with unforeseen challenges and crises.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11 over a year ago - we as well as other members of the Security Council - have given the highest priority to the fight against international terrorism, and most recently of course the follow-up of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1441 on Iraq.

Norway wants the conflict with Iraq to be resolved peacefully and with political means. We now await the report of the inspectors and a new round of deliberations within the Security Council on what to do next.

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I hope I have not been too long – there are of course important countries, regions and issues that I have not been able to address tonight, but I have tried to be brief and to the point and do it “the Norwegian way.”

Please join me now in a toast to friendship, close and fruitful relations between our respective countries in the years to come.