Joint statement with the Prime Minister of Norway

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today welcomed Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to Australia.

This is the first official visit to Australia by Prime Minister Stoltenberg and the first by a Norwegian Prime Minister since 2005.

On behalf of the Australian Government and people, Prime Minister Gillard expressed Australia’s profound sympathy for the victims of the tragedy in Norway in July. Prime Minister Gillard wanted the people of Norway to know the thoughts and prayers of all Australians were with them following the terrible attacks.

The Prime Ministers welcomed the growing economic ties between Australia and Norway and agreed to continue efforts to expand cooperation, particularly in the mining and oil and gas sectors. The leaders welcomed Prime Minister Stoltenberg’s visit to Perth with a Norwegian business delegation focused on oil and gas and shipping.

Australia and Norway share a commitment to international security and are active contributors to a number of UN peacekeeping missions, including the UN Mission in Southern Sudan and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

On Afghanistan, the Prime Ministers discussed the transition to Afghan-led responsibility for security by 2014.  They agreed on the importance of a long-term commitment to Afghanistan following transition to support Afghanistan’s economic development and stability.

The Prime Ministers discussed the significant action being taken by many countries to tackle climate change and committed to continue Australia and Norway’s close collaboration on global negotiations.

Prime Minister Stoltenberg congratulated Prime Minister Gillard on the passage of the Clean Energy Future legislation, noting market-based approaches were the most efficient and cost effective ways of reducing emissions and would drive innovation and investment in renewables. Norway first set a price on carbon in 1991 and has had an emissions trading scheme since 2005.

The two leaders welcomed cooperation between Australia, Norway and the Indonesian government to preserve Indonesia’s forests through REDD+ and the recent Declaration of Intent on REDD+ in the Congo Basin, supported by Australia and Norway at Durban.

As two major energy exporters, the Prime Ministers discussed how Australia and Norway could utilise their leadership in the mining and resources sectors to support efforts by developing countries to translate their resource endowments into sustainable growth and prosperity for their communities.

Norway has had an Oil for Development program since 2005 and Australia recently announced the creation of a Mining for Development program to promote sustainable economic development through mining. The leaders agreed that officials would meet to identify areas of cooperation and information exchange between the respective programs and reaffirmed both countries’ support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Prime Ministers Gillard and Stoltenberg expressed their concern that the current approach to the Doha Round had reached an impasse and agreed that efforts were needed to resist protectionism and strengthen the multilateral trading system. Australia and Norway will jointly host a meeting in the lead-up to the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference to discuss new and innovative ways of advancing the Doha Round, including measures to ensure development in the world’s poorest nations is not held back by deadlock in the WTO.

The Prime Ministers discussed cooperation in Antarctica, noting that both Australia and Norway are celebrating major centenary events in 2011-12 to mark the achievements of the ‘heroic era’ in Antarctica.  Australia recently celebrated the centenary of Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition to Antarctica, which laid the foundation of the Australian Antarctic Territory. Prime Minister Stoltenberg outlined his upcoming trip to Antarctica to mark the centenary of Roald Amundsen’s arrival at the South Pole.

The leaders agreed both countries are strongly committed to the Antarctic Treaty System and will work together closely to promote environmental conservation in Antarctica.