FK Norway renamed Norec and moved to Førde

From now on, FK Norway will be called the Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation, or Norec for short. 

‘It is a great pleasure for me to open FK Norway’s new head office in Førde. This move provides an excellent opportunity to give new momentum to the agency under its new name, Norec. Cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation are vital for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Norec will be a resource centre for exchange activities and will develop exchange programmes designed to ensure that the participants contribute to developing and sharing skills and knowledge  both while on exchange and after returning home,’ Mr Astrup said.

The new instructions are intended to enhance the agency’s role in Norwegian development policy and strengthen its results. They make it clear that Norec is to contribute to Norway’s overall technical cooperation efforts, for example in collaboration with the new Knowledge Bank, which was established in March this year.

‘For me, it is important that Norec’s work is seen in the context of Norway’s overall development efforts. The new instructions set out the need for closer cooperation between Norec and other Norwegian development policy initiatives,’ said Mr Astrup.

‘The new head office in Førde will give us an excellent basis for establishing cooperation with new project partners in the private sector, public sector and civil society in Western Norway. At the same time, it will be important for us to continue to further develop cooperation with partners in all parts of the country,’ said Norec’s Director General Jan Olav Baarøy.

FK Norway was established in 1963. Over the past 55 years, it has contributed to Norwegian development cooperation by organising exchanges for more than 10 000 people between Norway and various partner countries. FK Norway, now Norec, is an administrative agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In June 2017, the Government decided to move the agency’s head office out of Oslo as part of a plan to decentralise public sector jobs.