Australia and Norway strengthening oceans cooperation

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Norway’s State Secretary Marianne Hagen opened the dialogue meeting in Canberra today. Healthy and thriving oceans are vital to Australia and Norway’s ecosystems. The two countries already enjoy strong cooperation under the Antarctic Treaty system and a shared approach to ecosystem based management in the Southern Ocean, enhanced today by the signing of a High Level Arrangement. The dialogue will further strengthen our collaboration in oceans governance, including through initiatives to combat marine litter and microplastics, shared approaches to promote sustainable management of environment and resources and value creation in the ocean industries.

“If we are to succeed with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the oceans will have to provide a larger share of resources, food and energy than today. The only way we can expand the blue economy, is to do it sustainably”, said Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ine Eriksen Søreide.s

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be among 13 world leaders to take part in a High-level Panel on Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy, an initiative by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The Panel will meet for the first time in September in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “