Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends of sport,

There are several reasons why it has been such a great honour for my Government to host this conference.

First, because the Norwegian people cares about sports.
In my country the language of sports is spoken fluently.
It is a part of our culture.
The very notion of sports stretches from the playing fields of family and friends – to the fascination of elite performance.

Second, because you are dealing with an issue of critical importance.
Sports matters greatly for people’s health.
As a consequence – we have to care about the health of sports.

And at present there is every reason to be concerned. With the spreading of doping, a dangerous disease has infected the sports movement – at a national as well as at a global level.

And third, because you are looking ahead, breaking new ground and suggesting concrete steps in the international fight against doping.

I welcome the work that you have accomplished during these days of work in Oslo.

Doping is a direct threat to the sports movement. Accordingly, the most effective solutions should come from within the movement itself.

But this also calls for a special kind of partnership. Between government and the voluntary sector in each country and among countries and between different disciplines.

Doping represents a broad threat. It is a challenge to society. It is a challenge to our ethical standards. It is a challenge to our definition of right and wrong.

It is a direct challenge to the fairness of competition. But the deeper threat concerns our children. It concerns our children as future athletes. But it also concerns our children as responsible citizens.

Early introduction to doping substances is bad enough. But we have clear evidence to say that doping in sports makes the road shorter to other drug abuses and related criminal behaviour.

The ambitions of my Government are clear; there should be zero-tolerance for doping. It can only be achieved through a broad mobilization. And we wish to play our effective role in this partnership.

Here are some of the key elements of our strategy:

First – we need to send clear signals from our legal system. Doping should be against the law.
We propose to broaden the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code by prohibiting the acquisition, possession and use of doping substances. We will amend the code in order to improve the working conditions of the police in the anti-doping fight.

Second – we need to strengthen our institutions to deal more effectively with doping. We suggest to establish an independent body responsible for doping controls.

Together with the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports the Government has decided on the structure and principles of this body. We envisage an independent foundation, consisting of a Steering Committee with representatives appointed by the Government and the Olympic Committee.

Third, we need more research. We need better methods to detect use of substances and broaden our knowledge concerning food supplements.

And fourth - we need to improve the preventive work among young people, athletes and sport leaders.

This is crucial. We need to re-establish the meaning of a clean victory. Victory and performance through clean physical strength and determined personal will.

No law can help us achieve this. Only strong role models, clear messages and strong attitudes can do the job.

That is why we believe so firmly that government, the sport movement and the thousands of athletes have to pull together. Build consensus. Spread information. Set moral standards. Apply the ethics of zero tolerance.

All of this we will try to accomplish at home. But that will not be enough – as you know all too well. We need to apply the same broad approach at an international level – just as you have been doing this week.

We are putting these objectives on important bilateral agendas for my country. As part of an existing agreement between the Government of Norway and the People’s Republic of China, the Norwegian Olympic Committee has recently entered into co-operation with its Chinese counterpart in the anti-doping field.

With South Africa we are working to establish a Memorandum of Understanding for anti-doping co-operation. France and Norway will start discussions to reach agreements on sport related issues. The same applies to our relations with Russia.

Looking ahead Norway believes that the world needs to construct an international independent organisation with the necessary mandate, competence and resources to co-ordinate the anti-doping work at global level.

The World Anti-Doping Agency – WADA - can become such an organisation. Your work this week has helped us some new steps in this direction. Norway is ready to support WADA – politically as well as financially.

To make the organisation truly global, we need to bring the developing countries along. That will require some kind of burden sharing. The richer countries must stand ready to support the poorer countries. This is nothing new to international co-operation. We have done it on a number of other occasions and we should be ready to do it again.

Thank you for choosing Oslo – thank you for choosing Norway. Thank you for the work you have done on behalf of the noble art of sports. Clean sports.

We will support the work of ridding the world of sports of the doping disease. With your determination we will succeed.

Thank you.