First of all I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Danish government for the invitation to come to Copenhagen for this fifth conference for ministers of culture in the Baltic Sea region. I would like to thank my dear colleague Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, who is now on maternity leave, and you, Mr Johannes Lebech, who is replacing her. I am really looking forward to these two days which I am sure will give us all an excellent opportunity to exchange views on cultural policy in general and discuss questions related to mutual activities in the region.

Norwegian regional co-operation is mainly concentrated on three different areas:

• The Nordic region, that is the five Nordic countries,

• The Barents region,

and

• The Baltic Sea region, the countries present here today.

From the Norwegian side we strongly support cultural co-operation in the Baltic Sea area. In our opinion culture is one of the main roads to mutual understanding and co-operation between people and countries.

Information Technology has given us new means, not only for communication, but also for co-operation, and it is stimulating to see how this technology has opened new doors also in the cultural field. We shall come back to this later in the programme. Particularly the Baltic Interface Net, which we shall hear about tomorrow, sounds interesting.

I am pleased to see that cultural heritage in the widest sense of the word is given such broad attention in the programme, and in the cultural co-operation between our countries.

Although Norway is not a Baltic state in the strict geographical sense, history has left us with a strong kinship politically and culturally. The report presented to us by the Monitoring Group, proves this point and substantiate the idea of a Baltic cultural identity. Since the 1997 meeting in Lübeck, when the ministers of culture decided to co-operate in the area of cultural heritage, Norway has participated fully in the work. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sweden for the initiative, and for providing the secretariat until now.

Last week I visited one of our living industrial cultural heritage sites, not far outside Oslo, The Fetsund Lenser museum. Let me first show you some pictures: http://odin.dep.no/kd/norsk/aktuelt/pressesenter/bilder/

Here broad audiences – especially children and young people – can experience how we in Norway over the last centuries transported lumber. It was floated on the rivers over very long distances – from far up in the mountains and down to the coast.

For the working people it was dangerous work – when they collected the lumber to utilise it for industrial purposes. The museum presents a real steamengine – and the different skills attached to lumber transport and industry – a practical live demonstration of our cultural heritage. Also, they have a theatrical presentation of the working people's class struggle - in a musical form.

Of the four working groups which have been established in the Baltic Cultural Heritage co-operation, Norway has participated in three.

The coastal and maritime culture is close to our heart – which is natural when one looks at the long coastline and takes into consideration our history as a fishing and shipping nation. Given the option – the obvious choice was therefore to chair this group. The planned exhibition of lighthouses shows us an aspect of this coastal culture, and I am glad to say that many lighthouses, having gone out of their original use, have been saved through conservation measures. They have served their purpose of guiding ships safely for many years, and may now find new purposes based on their aesthetic and historical value and tourist potential.

Practical building conservation is an issue that we all have to face if we want to maintain the architectural heritage.

Wooden buildings are of special interest to us, and I understand that this applies to other countries as well.

The theme of the third group that Norway has participated in, is sustainable small historic towns. As far as I can understand, the challenge in this area is good urban planning. Of the participating states, there are three which have historic city centres on the UNESCO World Heritage list in their capitals – Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Though these are by no means small towns, I am convinced that there are lessons to be learned from these examples, which are useful to us all.

Talking about the UNESCO World Heritage list and historic small towns, I must also mention one from my own country, Røros, which is a wooden city and quite unique in its character. As a curiosity I would like to mention that schoolchildren in Røros "adopt" the old wooden houses – and get the responsibility of doing restoration work on their houses and study the story of the people living in them! The children get lessons in the different handicraft techniques in workshops.

We have now reached a critical stage in the Baltic Cultural Heritage co-operation. A platform for co-operation has been established. There is a network of people knowing each other. There is a web site. Some projects have been accomplished. Others are on their way. If we want to see good results, we cannot leave the work here. The Monitoring Group underlines the crucial issue of funding, and I see their point. In Norway too we all the time feel we have far too little money for this important work of restoring our cultural heritage – and have to fight hard to have these issues given priority! And the national organisations are eager to lobby for more money – both official and private. Provided good project proposals are submitted work should continue. From the Norwegian side we find it most important that the Monitoring groups goes on with its tasks. We are most grateful to Sweden who has covered the secretariat functions. From our side we shall, as before, cover our own expenses. But funding is crucial, therefore funding through the Nordic Council of Ministers and the European Union should also be encouraged.

Thank you.