Russia takes over the chairmanship of the health collaboration under the Northern Dimension

In connection with the conference, the Norwegian Minister of Health and Care Services, Ms. Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen and the Russian Deputy Minister for Health and Social Development, Dr. Veronika Skvortsova held bilateral talks November 24.

Norwegian Minister of Health and Care Services, Ms. Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen and the Russian Deputy Minister for Health and Social Development, Dr. Veronika Skvortsova.  Download photo from Flickr. 

- Russia has been the co-chair under Norway’s two year chairmanship period. The Norwegian government highly values collaboration in the high north, and each year we allocate a significant amount of resources for developing and strengthening the health collaboration between Norway and North-West Russia. It is therefore important that our relations with the federal level in the Russian Federation is also good, something I experience that this chairmanship period has contributed to, says Ms Strøm-Erichsen in connection with the Partnership Annual Conference.

– I appreciate that Russia is now taking over the chairmanship of the Partnership, and find that it demonstrates the importance of the Partnership for Public Health and Social Well-being as an important framework for the health collaboration between the EU and neighbouring countries in the north.

The Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being was founded in Oslo in 2003, and now consists of 13 governments, the European Commission and 8 international organisations. Norway’s two year chairmanship period comes to an end on Wednesday when Ms. Strøm-Erichsen is chairing the Partnership Annual Conference. 

During Norway’s chairmanship period, priority has been placed on increasing the focus on prison health, a new strategy for the Partnership has been developed, and the Partnership has provided input to the EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy. The next two years, Russia will chair the Partnership with Finland as the co-chair. Norway plans to continue its active involvement in the Partnership also after the end of our chairmanship period.