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Spreads from international publication, Diplomatic Connections To view the below magazine, click this LINK. Other issues can be viewed at www.diplomaticconnections.com.
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During the Cold War, the Norwegians living on their side of the border and the Soviets on the other side had this cross-
Ambassador Aas: With the annexation of Crimea, a piece of land belonging to another European country, Russia has
bordering activity that amounted to some 10,000 border crossings every year — now it’s 400,000. So the people-
grossly violated international law and that is why sanctions will be continued. There is still some important international
to-people contact is an important element in our bilateral relations, and it works. All the northern countries, and
cooperation with Russia, such as on Iran. Diplomatic Connections: When they see the financial and other problems that roil the European Union, do Norwegians ever have a sense of “there but for the grace of God, go we?” You’re a northern country, with northern values, a northern work ethic, a northern philosophy, a sense of frugality, and you disengaged very early on through a referendum from this union which is suffering, at least partly, because its southern members had a not entirely logical approach towards the business of running their economies.
Russia, Canada, and the United States, we have a common understanding to maintain the Arctic as a stable region.
A Business,
Diplomatic Connections: But doesn’t the current situation with the Russians make Norwegians feel at all uneasy that, as some say here, another Cold War is starting up?
n y Publicatio Foreign Polic Diplomacy & • $7.95
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ER 2016
Anthony Behar-Pool/Getty Images
Diplomatic
(L-R, front row) President Obama, His Excellency Haider Al-Abadi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, Her Excellency Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, (2nd row) Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations (behind President Obama), Secretary of State John Kerry and Samantha Power (pink), United States Ambassador to the United Nations, attend the ‘Leader’s Summit on Countering ISIL and Countering Violent Extremism’ at the United Nations Headquarters on September 29, 2015 in New York City. The Summit, hosted by Obama, addressed national, regional and global initiatives to counter ISIL and the spread of violent extremism.
AIN ME VEL • ENT ERT POL ITIC S • TRA BU SIN ESS •
E RY & DEFofENS buying oil from Russia, Norwegian oil would be preferred by ESS • MIL ITA NT • CON GR European countries?
SER, OR TIM GRO AMBASSAD D NEW ZEALAN EMBASSY OF
Ambassador Aas: There is a flexible world market for oil and Norway export most of our production of 1.9 million barrels per day to the world-market. The market for gas is different: most of the gas produced in Norway is exported by pipelines to European countries. Norway is the second largest gas exporter to Europe – next to Russia. Norway is an efficient and reliable exporter of gas to Europe and is an important supplier to the European energy market. Diplomatic Connections: The Norwegians are very active in their frozen north. There was ONrecently a conference on the Arctic.
MINISTERS
BAL COALITI OF THE GLO Ambassador Aas: The Arctic Dialogue, held every year, in
Bodø, in the High North. When Norway started the Arctic OR were interested. Now hundreds Dialogue, countries SAD BASfew AMvery , ELL of people come to the conference. It’s one of the largest S COR HAN R UNBut more recently the Obama addressing Arctic issues. ME FOR Y focusing on the region. There TARbeen administration has also CRE -SE DER UN FOR L was a conference in Alaska to raise awareness and to make ERA GEN AIRS the Arctic. Secretary Kerry the right decisions regarding AL AFF LEG attended, and President Obama was also there. In Norway, our message to other countries is that we have been able to
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balance the climate issue with economic and social growth. We have a national consensus on that, which is why we have been gradually moving into the northern parts of Norway since we started the oil and gas venture in the late 1960s. Diplomatic Connections: Isn’t there also a security dimension as well? Doesn’t Norway, together with other Scandinavian countries, keep a watchful eye on Russian activity in the Arctic? Ambassador Aas: What I will say about that is that Norway has been living with Russia for 1,000 years — and living peacefully with Russia for 1,000 years. But we are very critical of what [the Russians] have been doing by annexing the Crimea, and what they are doing in the eastern parts of Ukraine; we are imposing the same sanctions as the U.S. and everybody else. We have postponed our military cooperation with Russia, but what is also important is that we maintain good cooperation with Russia, for instance, on administering the fishing in the Barents Sea, where there was overfishing in the 1970s and 1980s. Now fishing is based on harvesting, mostly because we have a bilateral understanding with Russia. We also have an understanding on what I would call nuclear spill from old Soviet nuclear submarines — so that also is working.
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Monica Frim heads out onto the Canadian tundra in search of polar bears,
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snorkels with beluga whales in sub-arctic waters and rides a dog-cart on the edge of a boreal forest. Her base is a rustic lodge in Churchill, Manitoba, an isolated flyin town known as “The Polar Bear Capital of the World;” her gateway, Winnipeg, a modern metropolis bustling with historic attractions and world-renowned museums, galleries and theaters. Photography by John and Monica Frim
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