The PEPPOL-conference banquet

Speech by State Secretary Wenche Lyngholm, Ministry of Government Administration and Reform, at the PEPPOL-conference Public Procurement for the Future, May 19th 2009.

Dear guests,
It’s a great pleasure to welcome you all to the Opera House, the venue for this banquet.

We are very proud of our new Opera House. It is a landmark building designed by Snøhetta, a young architect group, which has developed a reputation for maintaining a strong relationship between landscape and architecture in all its projects. Surely, the main purpose behind the construction of this building was to create a new Opera and Ballet House.  However, it was also a main idea to welcome people to its fantastic outdoor space. The Opera building has already become a beloved meeting place for people of all ages – both for sports-activities and for promenades.

We are proud that The National Opera and Ballet, by Snøhetta, is the winner of the European Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2009. 
I hope you will have some time to admire the details of the Opera building, and perhaps that you will once have the opportunity to attend an opera or a ballet performance here.

The month of May is a very longed-for month here in Norway; with springtime coming and lots of social events. We have just celebrated our National Day on the 17th of May and I hope that some of you had the opportunity to take part in this celebration. As you may have noticed, we are very excited about our victory in the Eurovision Song Contest.

There are participants from twenty nations across Europe at this conference. Conferences like the Peppol conference are very important in order to get new knowledge and share experiences. I hope the sessions earlier today have been useful to you.

However, in between these important discussions we have also set aside time for us to enjoy a social evening together.

I’d like you all to raise your glasses in a “welcoming toast”— skål!