Ladies and gentlemen,

Developments move quickly in Svalbard, not least here in Ny-Ålesund. A year ago, my Minister of Education and Research, Kristin Clemet, laid the cornerstone of this new building, the Arctic Marine Laboratory in Svalbard. Today, the magnificent building stands completed, and a new era for the international research community in Ny-Ålesund has begun.

This laboratory has become a reality after a number of research communities from many countries came together and decided to begin co-operating in the field of marine research in the Arctic region. So far the research co-operation at the marine laboratory here in Ny-Ålesund involves researchers from eight countries: Norway, Germany, Italy, the USA, Japan, South Korea, the UK and China. And I hope that more countries will join in this co-operation in the future. I would, for example, be very pleased if our friends from Russia were to join us in these activities. Russia has long-standing traditions in the field of polar research, extensive technical expertise and an established settlement and research activities here in Svalbard.

Research is necessary in order to increase our knowledge. But research also has another, equally important dimension: it promotes communication and co-operation between people and nations, and thus contributes to political stability and peace.

Here in Ny-Ålesund I have heard people speaking languages from all corners of the world, ranging from English, French and German to Japanese, Korean and Chinese. This is both because several countries have established their own research stations here in Ny-Ålesund and because researchers from many countries come here to carry out their projects.

I would like to see Ny-Ålesund become a centre of competence for marine research, as it has also been in the past for climate, geophysical, biological and other scientific research.

The Norwegian Government wishes to involve all good forces in the promotion of research and knowledge development. I have been pleased to note that ConocoPhillips has made a donation of 6 million Norwegian kroner to this new marine laboratory.

But above all, I would like congratulate Kings Bay and the international research community on a state-of-the-art laboratory. We look forward to your research results with great expectation and interest.

And with these words, I hereby declare the the Arctic Marine Laboratory in Svalbard open.