Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre

Foreign policy address to the Nordic Council

Copenhagen, 1 November 2006

Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre (on behalf of the Nordic foreign affairs ministers)

To be checked against delivery
Translation from the Norwegian

Mr President, honoured guests,

I would like to focus on three topics that have been central to the Norwegian chairmanship of the Nordic foreign policy cooperation this year:

• reform of the UN,
• combating human trafficking,
• and our cooperation in the north.

Reform of the UN

Let us be clear about, and remind ourselves, of this fact: the United Nations is our most important means of creating a better world. And UN reform is among the areas in which the Nordic countries have had the best and most fruitful cooperation. Not without reason. The UN stands for some of the Nordic countries’ core values. Cooperation on joint solutions to meet global challenges.

We want a stronger, a more effective UN, a UN that can strengthen existing international rules and create new ones, a UN that first and foremost secures peace, protects universal human rights and fosters development.

We nod in recognition at many of the proposals on development, emergency relief and the environment made by the UN’s reform panel, which is chaired by the head of my Government, Jens Stoltenberg, and to which Sweden has also made an active contribution through Ruth Jacoby. One UN presence at country level, more stable financing and joint management of UN development activities – all of these are sound, familiar proposals from the Nordic countries for which we have now secured widespread support.

The Nordic countries should continue to push for administrative reform in the UN. We share the Secretary-General’s vision of a better, more dynamic and more competent UN Secretariat.

The panel is important. These thoughts are no longer just an analytical contribution by five Nordic countries, but the convictions of national leaders in both the North and the South. It has been primarily the Southern countries on the panel that have demanded one UN presence with one clearly identified leader and one coordinated programme. And the US has expressed its willingness to try out the one-budget-line model for UN efforts at country-level, without earmarking funds.

This is no small victory. But there is no reason to rest on our laurels. It is important that the Nordic countries continue their proactive efforts to promote UN reform. The reform panel’s report will be published in a few days, on 9 November, and then the struggle to implement the ideas will begin. Just as we have sought to ensure that good proposals were made, we will now spearhead efforts to ensure that the proposals are implemented.

Systematic and long-term efforts will still be required, on four main themes:

Firstly, we need to promote understanding in the South of the need for reform. We want reform not because we want to restrict the UN’s activities, but because a more effective UN can make a greater contribution to development in the South. We all need to use the political contacts and channels at our disposal to involve the main players in the South. The forthcoming Nordic-African meeting of foreign ministers is a good opportunity for this.

Secondly, we need to secure wide support among non-Nordic donors. The Finnish EU chairmanship is doing an important job vis-à-vis the European Union in this respect. But we also need to secure the support of countries like the US and Japan – the two largest donors to the UN.

Thirdly, we need to work in the UN’s governing bodies to ensure that follow-up measures are implemented. We are not all represented everywhere, but together we cover all of the important UN governing bodies, not least the Security Council, where Denmark has a seat until the end of 2006, and where Iceland, with active Nordic support, will hopefully be able to take a seat in 2009.

Fourthly, the Nordic countries should exploit the fact that together we carry financial weight in the UN. We have financial muscle. We contribute, as is well-known, approximately one-quarter of the UN’s voluntary resources for development, emergency relief and environmental efforts. More need to contribute. Given our long tradition as strong political and financial contributors to the UN, few are able to match our credibility as promoters of a strong UN. Let us make the most of the negotiating room this gives us.

Human trafficking

Mr President,

Human trafficking is the second topic in this address – a very serious and, from a human perspective, tragic issue in our global age. The trade in human beings has become a global business, driven by profits running into the billions. All countries in the Baltic Sea area are affected, whether as recipient countries, transit countries or countries of origin. Today’s new slaves are found on streets, in brothels, and locked up in flats where they are held in the iron grip of criminals.

A close and obligating regional cooperation is vital to the fight against such gross violations of human rights. The Nordic-Baltic Working Group that Anna Lindh helped to launch in 2002 has given efforts a greater political focus, and has helped to ensure that the eight countries today have common standards that accord with the UN’s Palermo Protocol against human trafficking. The Nordic-Baltic countries also cooperate on the return of human trafficking victims and their rehabilitation in their countries of origin. This is an important initiative.

The EU highlights our Nordic-Baltic cooperation as a good model for regional cooperation against human trafficking. So does the Economic Community of West African States, which has set up a working group to combat human trafficking based on the same model.

The prime ministers of the Baltic Sea states decided in the summer that the Nordic-Baltic government cooperation against human trafficking should be gradually transferred to the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and that the Swedish chairmanship would put in place the system for this. Resources will be better utilised by doing so. At the same time, the transfer should give us a better opportunity to involve important transit and origin countries like Poland and Russia in the cooperation.

It is also good that members of parliaments have become engaged in these questions – as is evident from the recommendations made by the Nordic Council.

The Nordic countries need to stand together, and work effectively and in a well-coordinated manner, in the fight against human trafficking.

The High North, the Arctic Council, the Barents Sea cooperation, the EU’s Northern Dimension

Mr President,

A large part of southern Europe’s population tends to think of the “High North” in rather vague terms, or associate it with cold, ice and snow. But we know the High North, and we are familiar with both its many challenges – including global challenges – and its rich opportunities. For many of us, the High North is part of our daily lives. It is here that we harvest resources: from the forest, from the sea, from the earth and from under the sea floor. It is here that we find opportunities to exploit energy: from rivers, forests, wind and petroleum deposits. This is why the High North is important for us.

Since the end of the Cold War, the High North has come onto the political agenda in a whole new way. The framework conditions have changed. This is partly due to important initiatives like the Barents Sea cooperation, the Northern Dimension and the Arctic cooperation, but first and foremost it is an increasing acknowledgement of the High North’s importance – from the political, economic, research, cultural and human perspectives.

This region, which was marked by the Cold War, predictability, tense relations between East and West, and little cross-border contact, has opened up to become a region with a wealth of new opportunities and challenges. And resources.

In the Barents Sea, we find Europe’s richest fishing grounds. Sixty per cent of the fish caught there are delivered to Europe. The same sea, the sea floor, has important petroleum deposits. In order to continue living off, and exporting, fish in future generations, the marine environment has to be protected. Strict environmental requirements must be imposed. The petroleum industry and fisheries need to be able to exist together, side-by-side.

Climate change may in the long run make it possible to open up a northern sea route. We then need to be prepared for a significant increase in shipping in our waters. This will present new challenges in relation to both emergency preparedness and environmental protection.

As regards Norway, we have adopted an integrated management plan for our part of the Barents Sea, which sets out the conditions for fisheries, shipping and the petroleum industry. Our aim is to ensure that the highest environmental and safety standards apply to all of the Barents Sea. The Barents Sea must remain the world’s cleanest sea.

If these aims are to be achieved, cooperation with Russia needs to be extended. Russia is an important partner in the north, and must become even more important, both bilaterally and as a participant in wider cooperation forums.

The Northern Dimension is a useful framework for the Nordic countries’ efforts in the High North. The Northern Dimension will take on a new form from next year. With a new platform in place, the Northern Dimension will no longer just be the EU’s Northern Dimension, but a common policy that the EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland support as equal partners. All of them will have a joint, equal responsibility for translating policy into practical cooperation for the benefit of northern Europe.

The Northern Dimension will encompass a wider cooperation than “the road maps for the four common spaces” of the EU-Russia cooperation. At the same time, the Northern Dimension will still focus on issues that are of special importance in the High North, such as the environment, the needs of indigenous peoples, cultural diversity, health and quality of life.

All four regional councils are important mechanisms for the practical implementation of the Northern Dimension. The Nordic countries cooperate well in this area.

We have particularly good opportunities for close and coordinated efforts when chairmanships, as at present, are held by Nordic countries; Finland in the Barents Council, Sweden in the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and Norway in the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Arctic Council. We must make the most of this.

The Scandinavian cooperation on the next three chairmanships of the Arctic Council has just been launched. Norway, Sweden and Denmark have developed a programme for their chairmanship periods that can form the basis of a longer-term Arctic cooperation. We want to strengthen international cooperation on global climate change and the sustainable use of resources in the north.

We also want to look at the opportunities for making the work of the Council more effective. We are aiming to establish a temporary secretariat in Tromsø for the duration of our chairmanships.

In the next few years, the Northern Dimension and the regional councils in the north will provide important opportunities to strengthen cooperation in northern Europe. The governments of the Nordic countries will work with the members of parliaments to realise these opportunities for the benefit of the people living in the north.