European Youth Parliament’s (EYP) Conference and 63th International Session

Greetings (via video) from Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs

The High North

“It is a great pleasure for me, on behalf of the Norwegian Government, to welcome the European Youth Parliament to Tromsø.

It is pleasure and privilege for us to host such a distinguished assembly of young engaged people, future politicians and people who are interested in contemporary politics, to a region which we believe is going to be of increasing importance, not only to Norway and other coastal states around the Arctic, but to the entire world, from a political perspective, from an environmental perspective, climate change perspective, maritime perspective, and so on.

I am confident that you will have the opportunity to address many issues relating to what we in Norway call “the High North”, to all these issues which are so important, to decisions that politicians will have to take, civil society will have to take, in the years to come.

In Norway we have chosen the expression “High North – low tension” to express our ambition to develop human activity, to develop maritime transport, industrial activity, in the way that is sustainable, peaceful and based on international law and cooperation.

I have seen from your preparations that you have used the expression “High North – high temperature”. I think that is a challenging and interesting expression. Because it highlights the need, actually, to avoid tension, conflict, and complicating competition between states, companies, individuals, and so on.

You see the picture of the Artic Sea, the Polar Bassin, behind me. This is not a lawless territory; this is not a part of the world where there are no legal rules, no treaties.

Our point of departure is that for the states around the Arctic Sea the Law of the Sea applies. There is no provision in the Law of the Sea which states that an ocean with ice on top of, as now, there the Law does not apply. No – to the contrary. The international Law of the Sea, the UN Convention of the Law the Sea, gives us important guidelines, gives us rights and obligations as coastal states, on how we manage our areas close to our coasts, our continental shelves and how we manage international waters in the middle.

The challenge now for the coastal states, for the international community, is to base ourselves on the Convention of the Law of the Sea, to use maximum precaution and to develop rules, guidelines, regulations, which will allow peaceful human activity in a responsible fashion in the North.

But I think that the ultimate message about climate change, which you can observe here in the North more than anywhere in the world, is that we need urgent action on climate change. Only a half a year after Copenhagen, it is not time to forget our obligations, for getting you wake up call for action.

So what you get learn from experience in Tromsø during these days, should add another voice to the need to prepare for Mexico, to prepare for future important meetings, future important resolve and decisions by states to address climate change, so that we can avoid these very alarming scenarios that we now see ahead of us.

So, you have come to an interesting part of the world, where there are immense challenges, but also significant opportunities, but only human beings, states and responsible citizens can solve together.

Welcome and enjoy your stay in Tromsø, which I believe is a fine polar capital for the whole world.”