Norway’s Prime Minister to visit South Africa, Australia and Antarctica

Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will attend the UN Convention on Climate Change, in Durban, South Africa on 7 December 2011. Stoltenberg will participate in the high-level part of the conference, where he will deliver Norway’s official statement. He will also moderate a high-level discussion on financing efforts to tackle the effects of climate change, together with  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

From 8 to 10 December Prime Minister Stoltenberg will pay an official visit to Australia, where he will have talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and attend a number of Norwegian-Australian business events.

From 12 to 15 December Stoltenberg will visit the South Pole, to celebrate the centenary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen being the first to reach the South Pole with his team on 14 December 1911. The Prime Minister will underline the crucial role of the Antarctic Continent in understanding global climate change, and focus on the serious consequences that climate change in Antarctica may have for the global climate and sea level.

Returning from Antarctica Prime Minister Stoltenberg will stop in New Zealand for a meeting with New Zealand's Prime Minister.

Press contact for Prime Minister Stoltenberg’s visit to South Africa and the South Pole is Trude Måseide, head of communications, tel. +47 957 26 510.

Press contact for Stoltenberg’s visit to Australia is Arvid Samland, communications adviser, tel. +47 930 51 458.