Wants to Make Arctic Norway A European Pioneer Region

- We want to facilitate Northern Norway becoming one of Europe’s most creative and sustainable regions through seeing foreign and domestic policy in a closer-knit context, says Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (Conservatives).

- The High North Policy is the whole government’s project, she emphasized during her foreign policy orientation to Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, this week.

Last year, the government launched its most recent High North Strategy in Bodø. 

- High North strategy is about taking advantage of the dynamics between international cooperation and sustainable towns and local communities in the High North. It is about cross-border cooperation, business development and knowledge, roads, airports and vibrant local communities. And the next chapter of the High North strategy will be about the sea, says the Foreign Minister.

During her orientation she argued that the world’s interest in the Arctic is increasing and that climate changes hit particularly hard in the North.

- They affect the development of society and business of the four million people who live in the Arctic and tell of dramatic global changes.

The Foreign Minister also emphasized the importance of the Barents cooperation, a cooperation that celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.

- Through the Barents cooperation, the Arctic Council and the Bothnia Sea cooperation, we work with our neighbors to find common solutions in the North in areas like climate change and environment, health and safety.

- The defense’s contribution to exercising our sovereignty and to our understanding of the situation is a crucial part of our High North strategy. It also contributes to regional stability, says Søreide.