Speech at the WPC - Norwegian-Canadian Breakfast

Ministers, dear Guests….

Thank you for being with us this morning at this Norwegian - Canadian Breakfast.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here in Canada and not the least in the oil capital of Calgary. I have already had the chance to meet with several Government Officials as well as representatives of the oil and gas industry in Canada. I really look forward to further contact during my stay.

Being at the WPC, it is quite natural that petroleum is on everybody's mind, and Canada and Norway have many common interests in this field. However, I would like to start by pointing at some other aspects that have contributed to the good relations between our countries over the years.

The Vikings, of course, did their share to develop international relations, sometimes for worse than for better. Still, their arrival in Newfoundland 1000 years ago can be said to represent a head start, as they pre-empted many of our later competitors. Since then the relationship between our two countries has matured considerably - and now covers many areas:

Canada and Norway are close partners in developing the northern and arctic areas safeguarding the rights of native peoples as well as the environment.

Internationally we work together to promote human rights and human security. Without Canada and Norway there would not have been any international agreement on a ban of landmines.

For a long time we have been trusted allies in international organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and United Nations with a view to promote peace, stability and human development in all parts of the world.

For Norway, Canada is also one of the most important trading partners outside the European Union. The ongoing negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between Canada and EFTA gives evidence to this. From a Norwegian perspective, this process is an important effort to enhance trade relations with Canada.

These are only a few examples, but illustrate that there is a lot of common ground and potential for continued co-operation between our two countries.

As you know well, the Norwegian oil & gas industry is very actively working to grow in international markets. This process started many years ago, of course. But as the activity level in the North Sea has been decreasing over the last years, the internationalisation activity has become more important to us.

This means that we are more actively pursuing opportunities in many strategic markets in a number of regions. But we recognise that we are a small country, and that our resources are limited, so we cannot be active everywhere. Each company is therefore forced to prioritise its strategic markets according to its own special circumstances.

As you can see from the meeting here today, as well as from the WPC and the Exhibition in general, a large number of Norwegian companies see opportunities in Canada. Our presence is growing, and the number of companies is increasing every year. This is not only the case for the Petroleum industry. The acquisition of Fletcher Challenge Paper by Norske Skog is a signal that Canada is growing in importance as a market for us in general.

The growing presence of Norwegian and other companies is a strong indication that your country provides interesting investment opportunities and a favourable business environment.

When looking at your track record in terms of economic development over the last years, one cannot be anything but impressed. Canada is characterised by economic growth, exceeding the average growth of the world economy, solid state finances and declining unemployment. Besides, your country provides stable framework conditions, a well-developed infrastructure and a highly educated labour force.

Eventually, it should be mentioned that you have also succeeded in safeguarding the environment and the quality of life. To balance economic growth with environmental concerns and human development is a tremendous challenge to all Governments. The fact that Canada ranks as number one on the United Nation's human development index substantiates that you have indeed been successful – of which you can be proud.

This, in turn, tells us that we must intensify our efforts and continue the development of our relations with Canada.

In the petroleum sector, our objective is to share with you some 30 years of experience, our successes and our mistakes, and to bring you our perspective on the industry.

We hope and wish that we can continue to be a partner for you in dealing with the challenges ahead. And we want to take your learning experiences home with us. This is definitely a two-way process.

We do not believe we have all the solutions, neither as a Government, nor as an industry. But we have had to overcome challenges with regard to national interests, sustainable resource management, deepwater technology - and not the least; costs - which must be tackled in an increasingly competitive environment. With regard to the offshore activities in particular, we see many similarities between your situation in Canada and our own environment. Although we do not think we have all the answers for you, we certainly believe that we can be partners.

And we make good partners, which I hope some of our companies have demonstrated. There are many successful partnerships here. Norsk Hydro and Petro-Canada and Pancanadian, JJ Ugland and Pennecon, Kongsberg Offshore and New Dock … just to mention a few. We are looking at these partnerships with special interest, and hope to learn from them. They are laying some new ground in Canada, and hopefully other companies will follow their lead.

The WPC provides an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties and explore new fields of co-operation both on an industry and government level. I would therefore like to thank you for hosting this wonderful event.

I would also like to compliment the WPC committee for organising such an interesting forum and I express my best wishes for Mr Eivald Røren's candidacy as President of the WPC for the next cycle.

I am looking forward to meeting with many of you later this week. I hope to hear more about your ideas and issues of concern and to discuss matters of mutual interest.

Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen, again, thank you for joining us this morning.

I wish you all a productive congress and a good exhibition.

Thank you.