Graduation Ceremony, Oslo International School

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Excellencies, head of school, staff and dear families and friends.
Dear graduates.

It is a pleasure and an honour for me to be here with you on this very important day of your life. Many of the people in this room are very proud of you for a very good reason.

At the stage in life that you are now you are about to make some very important choices about where to go on from now. You have the best possible background to make these choices, having graduated from a school like this. Because, as head the of the school said, "what we are seeing in the 21^st Century is a world that is becoming more global, it is getting more international and it is changing faster than ever before".

Even those of us who, already some years ago, used to think that the world was changing fast, we still struggle with the speed of change. Which means that you don’t know, and I don’t know, what the world will look like in the future. But I know one thing about the world, and that is that it is a great advantage for you to have knowledge, not only knowledge of language, mathematics, science and social issues, but also knowledge of working together in an international and in a cross-cultural setting. We need more of that. This country is prosperous and doing quite well, particularly compared to many other countries in the world and in this region. We are doing well, first and foremost because we are quite good at connecting with the world.

We have a remarkable degree of integration with Europe, increasingly with the global market, because so much of our gross domestic product is linked to export and import and we are participating in the global value change. In the future, Norway will still be closely engaged with Europe. We need to know the European market, European politics, how to relate to a changing Europe?

But we also know that our engagements will be increasingly global. One of the benefits of this country is that we will be able to diversify some of the trade and participation in the regional economy that is now loosing out because of the economic crisis. We will adapt to a changing world by engaging more with Asia, with Latin America, with Africa and of course with North America.

We are truly a global country, but we have a challenge in that we do not have enough people with the kind of cross cultural experience, like the one that you have. If you choose to continue living in Norway, we will need that experience. For those of you who will move on, I hope you take with you not only what you have learned at school, but also what you have learnt about this country, which I believe is a nice, tolerant and open society. But also a society that gets better the more we engage with the world.

I will also remind you, on this important day, that you are quite privileged. You are privileged to have attended this school and that you have lived in the communities that we live in. You have been able to grow up in a country that has done better than many others. And I want you to reflect on the fact that in the close vicinities of Europe, there are many young people at your age, including graduates. They don’t know if they will ever get a job. There are deep economic problems and social crises.

I think all these problems can be solved, but we need innovation, thinking outside the box, a willingness to try to do things in a different way.

Asia is growing very fast. In the 21^st Century we will see the prosperity of Asia, the prosperity of Latin America and Africa. And we have to relate to that.

Another important region is the Arctic. The Arctic connects three of the most dynamic economic regions of world: North America, Asia and Europe. The ocean, which was previously frozen, is now opening up due to global climate change. And we see real change in the geographic outlook, in the geo-political outlook.

In this new world, we will have a lot of new debates. And I will encourage each and every one of you to take part in these debates, whatever you are going to do. How should we run our business in an ethical way? How do we organise our societies? How do we organize the relations between our countries, in a new setting? How do we deal with issues like human rights and democracy in a world that is different from the one in which we grew up? These are important issues.

If I am to give you some advice, it would be to remember to think outside the box. Challenge authority. Do question the established wisdom. Do preserve your friendships, remember your friends, your contacts. They can be good to have - either for seeking different opportunities, but also for helping you throughout life. And life, as you probably know, is sometimes quite easy, but other times hard. Then it is good to have longstanding friends. There are no friends as special as the ones you make when you are the age that you are now.

Be good in your job, but remember to do something in addition to your job. My experience - and I employ a lot of very bright people in the foreign ministry - the best people are those, of course, who have been doing well at school. But they have also done something more, like student activities, such as sports, music, dancing, arts, or they have been engaged in political activity or been part of a non-governmental organization. It is important to do something more, it is good for the world, and it is good for you. If you do that you all can make a difference.

I want to conclude by saying that I am proud to be here. This school is important. It is important to a country who is trying to be even more global. Even more outward looking. It is good for the people who are coming from international business or diplomatic services. That their children have a good international school to attend, with a curriculum that you can transfer directly to the next school and the next place.

We are proud to have a school like that in the Oslo area. And I am sure you are proud to have been a student here. We are proud of you and good luck with your graduation and your final exams. And then of course, good luck with your life. I encourage you to go on doing the good things you have been doing, also in your future career.

Thank you for your attention.