Borderless development through cooperation

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Dear Rector, dear Mayor, dear colleagues and friends

It is a great honour for me to hold the opening lecture at the Barents Days 2007 here in Bodø, one of the Norwegian capitals of the Barents region.

The Barents cooperation is young, actually only a youth in its first teens. But it is already a highly respected, even venerable institution. Most people will automatically understand what is meant and associate something with the words whenever the Barents region and the Barents cooperation are mentioned.

That we now for the second year can take part in The Barents Days tells us something about a successful development. Something has indeed happened. There is a Barents region and there is a Barents identity.

In Kirkenes, where this unique cooperation was launched, the evaluation of the initiative is such that they have already erected a bust of Thorvald Stoltenberg, our former foreign minister - and the founding father of this vital regional cooperation. The title of his autobiography could also be used to describe the Barents cooperation in general: ‘It is all about people”. 

The Barents region is a historic and colourful tapestry of cross-border cooperation and people-to-people network. The Government’s High North strategy takes full account of this traditional pattern of contact, and seeks to strengthen and renew the ties that have played such an important role in this region.

Regional is a key word: We have a region with four countries, but also a region with 13 regional entities, which all plays a crucial role in the cooperation, 3 in Norway, 2 in Sweden, 3 in Finland and 5 in Russia. And not to forget, this is the homeland of indigenous peoples: The Sámi lives in all the four Barents countries, the Nenets and Veps only in Russia, but they all play an important role in the Barents cooperation.  

The idea of the Barents Days is to further strengthen these contacts and networks across borders. The first Barents days were successfully held in Tromsø. The youth issue was very central and turned out to be of particularly great interest. The activity, stamina and enthusiasm of the young Barents burgers made a great impression. This bodes well for the future of their and our region.

This year Bodø municipality has set the spotlight on borderless development through cooperation, particularly in the areas of the environment, climate change and education and skills development. Bodø University College is a highly relevant institution in this regard with its High North centre for the business sector and its High North bachelor degree course, and it is an important contributor to the programme.

“Borderless development through cooperation”. Of course, the borders are still there, and it is of course difficult to foresee a totally borderless region. But: - the regional cooperation has made the borders less of a hindrance. There is definitely a clear will to strive for more borderless development in all the Barents countries.

People have come closer; the people-to-people relations are very often, and rightly, named as probably the greatest and most durable achievement of the cooperation.

The days of the iron curtain are – luckily- history, as well as the antagonistic confrontation that once was a most significant and characteristic feature of the Northern border between the Western world - NATO - and the Soviet Union –the Warsaw pact, the 196 kilometres separating Norway and Russia.

Today there are annually more than 100 000 border crossings between Russia and Norway at Storskog. Twenty years ago there were only a few thousand.  

Before the iron curtain “melted”, by what we consider to be a positive political climate change - in contrast to the threatening manmade climate change we face today. The consequences of this transboundary climate change can already be seen and felt in the Arctic -

And here I would just like to express our satisfaction with and support to the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, to award the Nobel Peace Price for 2007 to Al Gore and the IPCC –

So,

Before the “melting” of the obnoxious iron curtain- traditional security issues were the number one topic and the main challenge and concern in the High North.

Now, on the contrary, the prime security challenges are connected with civilian issues, or what we call “soft security”: Economic cooperation, resource management, resource surveillance and transport.

This requires local, regional, national, bilateral, multilateral and eventually global cooperation and interaction.    

Allow me a personal remark. I just recently took up the position as state secretary, coming directly from the Balkans. There is a striking contrast between what happened in the Balkans in the nineties, where very few took any interest in cross border cooperation. On the contrary - borders and differences were accentuated. People who once were very much closer than the neighbours in the Barents region were due to this drawn into a maelstrom of horror.

The development in the High North and notably in the Barents region shows that there is another way, the way of cooperation and mutually beneficial border crossing, physical and mental border crossing. The Barents experience could be studied and taken into account by quite a few conflicting neighbours.

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After the cold war ended new possibilities for cooperation in the north emerged, bilateral, multilateral and regional. It started twenty years ago with Mikhail Gorbachev’s famous speech in Murmansk. This speech opened the door for a limited regional and multilateral cooperation. It was a modest start, but events developed very fast. In 1992 the Council of the Baltic Sea States was born, in 1993 the Barents cooperation was established and in 1996 the Arctic Council.

It should also be mentioned that the Nordic Council of Ministers now has an increased focus on the Barents region, and is involved in concrete cooperation projects with the Barents Euro Arctic Council. Now we also have the new Northern Dimension, where the EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland are equal partners. The Barents region is a priority area in the renewed Northern dimension that was established less than a year ago. Several huge environmental projects have been realized through the Northern Dimension environmental partnership. A new partnership on transport and logistics could possibly be established. We support this idea.

Norway is and will continue to be an active participant in all the regional organizations. We think they all have their specific value. It is important however to seek complementarities and improve synergies.

For Norway the Barents cooperation has been and will be a priority. It turned out to be an efficient tool for handling the transition from confrontation to cooperation. The Norwegian counties and Russian oblasts emerged as indispensable key actors and partners from the very start. Through the Barents cooperation our Nordic neighbours were engaged in regional cooperation in the North.

During the past 15 years, the Barents cooperation has provided and invaluable arena for Norway's relations with Russia. An arena, in which we have gained knowledge and useful experience, built trust and developed an extensive network. We think it is important to build a civil society in Russia, and we are happy to see NGO’s and their branch offices working in the Barents region. We will bring our experience from the Barents cooperation into a new era - an era where petroleum activities are likely to be the key driving force and challenge.  We face new energy and environmental challenges in the North. 

In less than a month Russia will take over the chairmanship of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) after Finland. Russia has plans for quite a few activities and events. We welcome this and support the view that continuity and further development of a well established and well functioning cooperation must be the aim. An important issue will be the signing of an agreement on the establishment of an International Barents Secretariat (IBS) in Kirkenes.

The secretariat should start working already in January. This will undoubtedly strengthen the cooperation. The secretariat shall “provide technical support for the multilateral coordinated regional activities within the framework of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Barents Regional Council”. We believe this will make the cooperation more coherent and efficient.    

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Norway’s perspective on the High North is dictated by geography and history. The Norwegian government has made the High North a strategic priority in its foreign and domestic policy.

In geographical terms, we define the High North as the sea and land area- including islands and archipelagos – stretching northwards from the southern boundary of Nordland county and eastwards from the Greenland Sea to the Barents Sea and the Pechora Sea.

In political terms it covers the part of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia that constitutes the Barents region. 

A wide range of aspects are important for Norway when we talk about the High North.

But first the obvious. The main focus is, of course, people: People’s ability to develop national resources, people’s ability to develop their local communities, improve their quality of life and access to high quality education, stimulating work and a rich cultural life. We want people to live there and live good and normal lives. We want traditions to be continued and where necessary modernized.

In addition, there is the overriding objective of securing peace and stability in a region that previously was a centre of potential confrontation between east and west. 

Fisheries are of course still extremely important for Norway. Sustainable management is crucial.

We want to secure the traditional way of living of the indigenous peoples. We have for this objective supported different projects on sustainable reindeer herding in the circumpolar area. Now the invaluable experience and knowledge of the indigenous peoples can learn us a lot when we face climate changes and have to try to adopt our lives to these changes.

Our interests are many, but the three main drivers behind the Norwegian High North Strategy are energy, environment (climate change) and relations with Russia.

A few years ago, global climate change would not have figured as a top priority. Now scientists are supporting what we can see with our own eyes: the polar ice cap is receding faster than expected, temperatures in the High North are rising twice as fast as elsewhere on the planet. Open waters across the North Pole in the future could in itself revolutionise transportation routes to Asia. All of this underlines the importance of intensifying research in order to strengthen our knowledge on climate change in the High North. This is a priority in the Governments High North Strategy. 

Energy is another key factor attracting international attention to the High North. Oil and natural gas are already produced in the Barents Sea and the Pechora Sea. As energy supply and energy security are becoming increasingly important foreign and security policy issues, it is not surprising to see growing interest in the High North as an emerging energy province. In a comparative perspective, energy has replaced strategic nuclear deterrence as the main source of interest in this region.

Some of this interest is due to calculations that as much as a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resources may be located in the Arctic. Although these estimates concern the entire circumpolar Arctic, it opens new business opportunities in North Norway, north-western Russia and beyond.

The government's High North strategy was, as you know, launched in Tromsø on 1 December 2006. The aim is to translate political ambitions into specific projects and practical results. In this year's budget the Government has allocated about NOK 250 million extra for measures related to the High North.

These funds are primarily for more research in connection with the International Polar Year, geological surveys and implementation of the integrated management plan for the Barents Sea and the sea areas off the Lofoten islands, and knowledge-building programmes. These funds come in addition to the considerable allocations for research and development, innovation and business development, infrastructure measures and environmental and resource management in the north.

In the budget for 2008 the allocation will be increased with NOK 196 million, divided by eight different ministries. The MFA will have a budget of NOK 271 million, for these purposes, a NOK 20 million increase. The main priorities of the MFA are: Cooperation with Russia, the Barents cooperation, nuclear safety and the Norwegian chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

The focus on the High North is a national effort aimed at developing our northern areas - and our neighbouring areas. It reflects an ambition of presence, activity and knowledge in a long-term perspective. Knowledge is crucial for Norwegian value creation, natural resource exploitation and environmental management.

Barents 2020 is the Government’s programme for research and development in the High North. Quite recently the first major environmental project was launched under Barents 2020. Det norske Veritas is to take the lead in efforts to harmonise health, safety and environmental standards for industrial activities in the Barents Sea. The project is to run over three years and has a budget of NOK 27 million.

Norway actually holds the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. Environmental questions and climate change are fundamental issues.  Sustainable use and ecosystem based management of natural resources is another priority. A secretariat has been established in Tromsø for a period of six years. It will be taken over by the next chairmanship, Denmark and Sweden with whom we have a close cooperation on Arctic issues. 

We are faced with many changes –global and regional changes- and adaptation is becoming increasingly important. We must ensure that the indigenous peoples of the High North are able to preserve their unique traditions, languages and culture.

We need a broad approach to the opportunities and challenges, and a long-term perspective.

The old problems are still there. This summer pollution from the Nickel smelter was on the front pages of Norwegian newspapers again. Norway has signed an agreement on financing part of the reconstruction, and we respect the contract. Now it very much depends on the owners of the Norilsk Nikel company.

Nuclear safety cooperation with Russia has been one of the most important areas we have worked in. Since the cooperation started we have allocated roughly 200 million dollars to nuclear safety projects. This includes i.e. decommissioning of submarines and elimination of the 180 nuclear-powered lighthouses from Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblasts, Nenets autonomous okrug and Novaya Zemlya.

This form of cooperation must change as the times change. We will not lower the ambitions but target the cooperation more closely. Our main priority and concern in this field now is the nuclear waste at Guba Andreyeva, very close to the Norwegian border.  We also have to mention that several other countries and Russia itself spend substantial sums on nuclear safety programs. International efforts are needed to assist Russia in cleaning up the disastrous legacies of nuclear waste. 

The High North is today attracting growing interest from far beyond our region. The challenges and opportunities in the High North should trigger us to develop closer cooperation on a wide range of issues, from trade and economic development, through health and environment, to details relating to border crossing and cross-border cooperation, all the way to long term sustainability and security.  

Dear friends,

The first Barents Days were successfully organized by Tromsø last year. This year the city of Bodø is our host. We are very satisfied with the excellent cooperation we have had with all of the contributors to the arrangement, foremost Bodø municipality, then Nordland county, Bodø University College, The Executive Committee for Northern Norway, the Barents secretariat and last but not least, the representatives from the region itself. I am convinced that we will have some inspiring days with lectures, conferences and a rich and varied cultural programme.

Next year the Barents days will be held in Kirkenes. We are sure that the excellent work of Tromsø in 2006 and Bodø in 2007 will be an inspiration to the organizers in Kirkenes. We look forward to new Barents days in new places in the future.

Thank you for your attention!