Mr Ambassador.
Mrs Ambassador.
Dear friends.

To visit London is always exiting, whatever background you may have. Particularly appealing, however, is it if you have cultural interests.

Because London is culture.

London is theatres, galleries, museums - music, art, books.

London is antiquities, tradition, history.

London is everything you want.

As minister of culture, and with a background as an actress, I am always thrilled just with the thought of going to London. My first visit in 1970 was as a puppeteer wanting to study Punch and Judy. And now, here I am again, in the city of my dreams. And, it’s just overwhelming, when you are received as we are here tonight - in this warm atmosphere, around this beautifully decorated table, among so many interesting people and good old friends, and with this excellent meal. Thank you, Mr Ambassador and Mrs Ambassador, Tarald and Lise, for your generous hospitality, and for this splendid evening.

One of my reasons for this visit to London is to meet with my British colleague, Mr Chris Smith. I am very much looking forward to discussing with him questions of common interest, like cultural diversity in a more and more integrated world, and public broadcasting. I also intend to take up with him questions which are particularly pertinent to Norway, a small country outside the European Union. I'm also very happy to have this opportunity to meet personally here tonight with Alan Howarth, Minister for the Arts. I have listened to him with great interest several times in our European meetings.

This afternoon I had the opportunity to meet with BBC's Head of European Affairs, Mr David Levy. We had some very interesting talks, inspiring and challenging, concerning the future of public broadcasting in our countries.

My friend, the famous director Terry Hands, always says to me that the ancient Vikings of Norway probably are more known to British schoolchildren than the average Norwegian. His theory is that we feel shame about this chapter of our history! Norway is a young nation, but with a long history and an old culture. But in spite of the Vikings' aggressions, we are proud of our history, and also quite proud of our peculiarities. We think we are different, and I am sure that many visitors to Norway also find that we are different. Nevertheless, we are part of European culture and share values and ideals with other European countries. But one country is definitely closer to us than any other country, apart from our Nordic neighbours and that is Britain. The historic and cultural ties between our two countries are old and strong, and I feel that they are getting even stronger today in a globalised world when all countries are getting closer to each other. We ought to take note of this, and we should take advantage of it.

I shall not bother you with questions from national Norwegian cultural policy. But I'm proud of the level of our Norwegian artists, many of them contributed to the Visions of Norway program in Great Britain last year. Two of our most outstanding painters, Anne Kathrine Dolven and Kjell Torriset are here tonight. Many art students from Norway come here every year. I'm sure Michael Tucker, a specialist on Scandinavian Art, can tell you more about that tonight. However, two items, or topics, ought to be mentioned. One is the new opera house we are going to build in Oslo.

In the international architect contest 240 participants from all over the world took part. It was won by the Norwegian architect firm Snøhetta, actually the same architect firm that won the Alexandria Library contest.

The groundwork will start 2003, and the work will be finished early in 2008.
The opening of the new Opera House in Oslo will take place in autumn 2008.

The other topic I would like to mention is Henrik Ibsen. You have Shakespeare, we have Ibsen. From my period as artistic director of The National Theatre I worked a lot with Ibsen.

In 2006 we will celebrate 100 years commemoration of the death of Henrik Ibsen, an event which we hope will be taken note of also outside Norway.

Ibsen is a dooropener to Norwegian theatre and literature. Maybe an Ibsen Society in the UK is an idea to pursue?

John Barton, Terry Hands, Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre, Deborah Warner, Peter Hall and Adrian Noble - all of them love the works of Ibsen, as do all the major actors: Vanessa Redgrave, Fiona Shaw, Ian McKellan, Alan Bates and Paul Scofield.

Dear hosts,

Thank you again for giving this splendid dinner, for your hospitality and for inviting all these interesting people. I personally enjoy every minute, and I am sure we all do.

Therefore, all of you, join me, now, when I propose a toast to our hosts as a token of our gratitude and appreciation.