Address to Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek

I would like to say a few words of welcome to our guest tonight - the Prime Minister of Slovenia.

Let me first say that it is a pleasure to wish you welcome on the occasion of the first official working visit of a Slovenian Prime Minister to Norway. At the same time we welcome an old friend of our country and a former student of the University of Oslo. So let me extend to you a warm velkommen hjem - welcome home.

Back in 1992, Professor Stein Kuhnle, who is present here tonight, edited a book called "Small states compared; Politics of Norway and Slovenia".

Kuhnle observed how Norway and Slovenia resemble each other in many ways. We belong to the group of smaller democratic European nation states. In this century we have both strived for and achieved national sovereignty and independence - Norway in the first and Slovenia in the last decade of the century.

At the same time there are important differences. Our political and economic history as well as our current situation is different. We have achieved democracy along different paths. And we have had to face different foreign policy challenges in very different regional settings.

This is still the case, but at the same time: Never have our challenges been of a more similar nature. Today we share the same ambition to secure peace and stability in an all-European setting. This has been the main topic of our most interesting conversation earlier today.

As I see it; our challenge is two-fold; On the one hand we need to build an all-European security structure. We do so in the OSCE, we do so in NATO and between NATO and its partners and we do so in the economic field in cooperation with the European Union.

A part of this effort is to accommodate new members in our Western organizations. We support Slovenia's ambition to join this network. Democratic Slovenia belongs to the family of European democracies, with equal rights and obligations. We must widen and deepen the cooperation in a way that reduces the differences between the various membership affiliations. We must avoid gray zones between those who belong to an organizations and those who do not.

On the other hand we must explore the opportunities of regional cooperation. In this context, Norway and Slovenia share the same responsibility.

In the North we are engaging with Russia in the Barents cooperation and in the Baltic cooperation. In the South of Europe, Slovenia is expanding cooperation with its neighbors. By doing this important regional work we make valuable contributions to European stability.

I believe that we will have much to gain from a more frequent exchange of experience in this field. Norway will show an increased interest for this, not least as part of our readiness to assume the responsibility as chairman in office of the OSCE in 1998. We need better mechanisms for conflict prevention, not least in the region south of Slovenia.

Let me finally express our appreciation for the way our bilateral relations are developing. Trade is still modest - but it did double last year. In a week there will be an important Norwegian business manifestation in Ljubliana. I can assure you that the companies present at that occasion represent the best that Norwegian industry can offer - some of these companies are present here tonight such as Norsk Hydro, Telenor and Statoil.

Then there is the cultural dimension which will have its expression later this month as the 100th anniversary of the artists Harald Sæverud and Bozidar Jakac will be commemorated in Bergen.

And finally there is sports. The language of winter sports is spoken fluently in both Slovenia and Norway. This year we have admired the brilliant talent of the world cup ski jump winner Primoz Peterka. And we have enjoyed the long flights of our own jumpers Espen Bredesen and Lasse Ottesen in Planica just before Easter.

Let us have the same far reaching vision for our bilateral cooperation. There is a lot to build on and a lot to take advantage of.

I would like to propose a toast to the successful integration of Slovenia into the broader networks of European cooperation, to the Prime Minister of Slovenia and the Slovenian people and to the friendly relations between Slovenia and Norway.