Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all I would like to forward greetings and best wishes for the Conference from the Norwegian Minister of Regional Development, Ms Sylvia Brustad. She also asked me to forward her apologies for not being able to hold the welcome speech at the conference today.

It is a great honour for me on behalf of the Norwegian Government to welcome you all to Norway and Oslo for this first Quality Forum for the Interreg IIC Baltic Sea Region Programme. We appreciate highly that we as a non-member state of the European Union are hosting this first Quality Forum of the Interreg IIC Programme for the Baltic Sea Region.

The years following the end of the Cold War have been marked by the development of a number of regional co-operation mechanisms in our neighbouring areas. This means that we have an organisational pattern that reflects the establishment of cross-border and transnational ties at different levels. Between individuals, groups, associations, municipalities, counties, private sector organisations, members of parliament and of course between the authorities at government level, and that these are all willing to work together to achieve common objectives.

Our experience from Nordic co-operation indicates that all contacts are useful for building networks, thereby ensuring peaceful coexistence and development. In co-operation with Russia and the Baltic countries, the experience that we ourselves have acquired during more than 40 years of Nordic co-operation is useful. And we see that others are interested in benefiting from our experience of the practical arrangement of such co-operation and of the rewards it can give in the form of increased economic growth and regional development.

As emphasised Nordic co-operation is a cornerstone of our policy regarding our neighbouring areas. The character of the Nordic co-operation has of course changed now that three Nordic countries have become members of the European Union. The Norwegian Government aims to maintain and develop the co-operation to meet new challenges. Together with our support to the enlargement prosess this is one of the main reasons for Norway to participate in the Interreg co-operation.

As you all know Norway did not join the European Union after the national referendum in 1994. But that doesn’t mean that Norway should not participate in cross-border and transnational co-operation with Member States. Norway is participating in nine different Interreg IIA and Interreg IIC programmes.

Two days ago the government presented the state budget, and I’m pleased to inform you that the Interreg budget line has been substantially increased. And for the Interreg IIIB – Baltic Sea Region Norway will participate with 6 Million Euro. (12 million Euro including national co-financing). We also appreciate the possibility of being lead partners in the next programme period. And whole Norway will become eligible area.

And I am sure that the new programme will contribute to find common solutions to common challenges in the Baltic Sea Region.

Today and tomorrow you are gathered here in Oslo to present and discuss the outcome of projects financed from the Interreg IIC-programme.

The objective of this first out of three Quality Forums during this autumn is to

• provide a forum for exchanging experience between projects dealing with urban systems and urban networking

• to enhance networking between projects in order to identify synergy effects

• to find out to which extent a cross-sector and innovative spatial development approach has been developed by each projects

• to discuss how to achieve and present tangible results to be used for regional cross-border/transnational development and for followup actions

and last but not least

• to inform about the Interreg III B Programme for the Baltic Sea Region

In this relation I would like to mention the "Metropolitan Area" project in which Norway is participating. This project has been very important from our point of view.

This project for urban development aims at contributing to the stabilisation of regional development by promoting a system of cities and capital regions for exchange of experience in regional development and planning. A concrete outcome in Norway has been the introduction of socalled sub-national regional and spatial development strategies for the whole country. These strategies will become basic analyses for the upcoming white paper on regional policy in Norway which will be submitted to the Norwegian Parliament next spring. Another important outcome from this has been the contribution to the Norwegian Transport Plan for the forthcoming ten years.

For me this is a good example of how Interreg-projects may contribute and influence on policy making processes. I am sure you have similar experiences from other projects.

Once again, welcome to Oslo and I wish you all good luck with the conference. Thank you.