Ministers, Director General, dear friends,

Let me first congratulate you all – us all – on our recent achievements: Paragraph 47 of the Outcome Document from the UN Summit last year represents a breakthrough of historical proportions.

We have succeeded in making Decent Work a Global Goal. At least on paper.

Now our common challenge is to make Decent Work a reality. For everyone. Everywhere.

Norway is more than ready to contribute.

As a matter of fact, the fundamental values of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda are the very same fundamental values that were decisive in the development of modern Norway;

a democratic market economy, with the rule of law and respect for human rights - a society with freedom for the individual in community with others, where everyone’s basic needs are met.

These achievements were possible because early in our independent history - decades before we even considered exploring for oil - our leaders fully subscribed to what is now known as the ILO’s fundamental priciples and rights at work.

Full protection of workers’ rights, including the freedom of association and the right to organize, was crucial to empower the poor, facilitate social justice and make full employment with decent pay a social, political and economic necessity.

At that time Norway was among the poorest countries in Europe, with a real GDP pr. capita around half of what is now the average in middle-income developing countries.

I elaborate on this, not to brag about our achievements, but because I sincerely believe there are some points of universal relevance in these observations:

Decent Work holds the key to poverty reduction – and political will holds the key to Decent Work. What is needed now is political will to ensure good, coherent governance, at all levels.

National governments, in partnership and dialogue with the social partners, must not only ensure the rule of law and sound macro-economic policies, they must also make sure that their growth oriented strategies are indeed pro-poor.

This means actively targeting productive employment-intensive growth, giving priority to investment in human capital, in particular universal access to education and health services.

A rights based approach is the only viable and sustainable poverty reduction strategy. Ratification and application of the ILO's core labour standards is a crucial first step towards human dignity, political stability - and ultimately global peace.

In accordance with the principle of national ownership, the Decent Work Agenda should be reflected in national budget policies.

In dealing with such development partners, I am convinced that the international donor community stands ready to contribute the necessary supplementary funds and mainstream Decent Work in development cooperation policies.

For our part, in the national budget for this year, we have further increased Norway’s Official Development Assistance to 0,96 percent of Gross National Income. Our aim is to reach 1,0 percent by 2010.

Last month, during the visit to Oslo by our good friend, the Director General, we signed the Norway/ILO Programme Cooperation Agreement for 2006/2007 - with a 25 percent increase compared to last year.

We do this because we believe in the ILO, and have great hopes for your Decent Work Country Programmes, to ensure coherence and consistency with national and global frameworks, including the United Nations Development Assistance Framworks (UNDAFs).

Encouraged by this years’ Global Report, we continue to give priority to the fight against child labour. And I am pleased to announce here that we also will join the Global Task Force on Child Labour and Education for All, where I personally will participate.

This is a wonderful initiative, demonstrating the will of the ILO to work coherently with other agencies, perfectly in line with the spirit of UN reform. The GTF makes a necessary bridge between two intimately linked objectives, creating synergy to the benefit of both.

All children have the right to be in school, not at work! For this we must ensure decent work with decent pay for all adults, to provide sufficient family incomes.

We also continue our support to social dialogue, expecting the social partners to work closely together, with the same objectives, in the same countries. We appreciate that one of their priorities is now on promotion of youth employment, and look forward to a results based report.

The increase in our contribution to the ILO is partly dedicated to the fight against discrimination, and in particular to the promotion of gender equality. Gender equality is among my government's main priorities in development cooperation.

We appreciate the efforts of the Office to mainstream gender equality into all activities, while at the same time maintaining the necessary visibility of this crucial issue. Your concept of a gender audit is very much welcome.

The final touch to our development cooperation with the ILO for the coming two years is dedicated to addressing what is perhaps the most important political challenge in multilateral diplomacy these days:

In our response to a globalization which is currently neither morally acceptable nor politically sustainable; how do we promote better and truly coherent global governance?

Again, what it takes is first and foremost political will and leadership.

Under Juan Somavia the ILO has indeed shown such leadership, making an important impact not only in the UN, but also at the regional and national levels in many parts of the world, as well as in the International Financial Institutions.

I also understand that even in the WTO there are some indications that coherence is key…

What remains now is to make sure the clear vision of the Director General will help to fully open the eyes of others.

We must make all international organizations pursue the same objective – the objective of fair globalization – creating opportunities for all, through Decent Work.

I am proud to say that Norway is now one of the ILO’s strategic partners in this imporant endeavour!

Thank you!