Ræða um samstarf á Norður-Atlantssvæðinu 6. desember 1999

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to this Nordic seminar on cooperation in the North Atlantic Area. I would like to make particular mention of our guests from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the Orkney Islands, Scotland and the Hebrides, whom we rarely see in the context of Nordic cooperation. And of course I shall also mention all our other guests from the Nordic countries, who are more frequent visitors, but always as welcome as ever.

Iceland has held the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers this year, and the seminar today and the meetings following it will bring our term to an end.

The topic of this seminar is very much in line with Iceland's priorities during its term of presidency. Our goal has been to draw attention to the northern and northwestern regions and the interests and needs of the people who live there. We also regard it as important to establish cooperation with the neighbouring areas west and northwest of the Nordic countries. We Icelanders are highly aware, as I know everyone here is, that the nations living in the North Atlantic Area have many shared interests – our conditions are similar in many places, generally sparsely populated countries where people live from fisheries and agriculture and where the elements are unpredictable. The Atlantic Ocean unites us and we all share a vital interest in keeping it as clean and unpolluted as possible. Through sustainable harvesting of its resources, we will be able to hand on the ocean to future generations in the same condition as when we inherited it from our forefathers. But this same ocean also joins us by historical bonds. Next year we will be celebrating the millennium of the voyages by the Icelandic Viking Leifur Eiríksson and his crew across the North Atlantic to the place he called Vínland – now North America. Iceland is celebrating this anniversary in cooperation with the government of USA, Greenland and parties in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and many other parts of Canada.

Today and tomorrow, however, we will not be considering this milestone here, but rather discussing the challenges and problems that we share in the North Atlantic Area, and will gain information on new ideas which could lead to increased cooperation in this region.

Over the past decade, Nordic cooperation has undergone radical changes. The most notable change has been that it is no longer confined to the Nordic countries themselves, since extensive cooperation also takes place with adjacent areas in the Baltic and northwest Russia. EU issues also occupy an important position in Nordic cooperation today.

This development is in line with the desires and needs of all the Nordic countries, not least those in the western part of the region. But interest in expanding Nordic cooperation with neighbouring areas to the west has also been increasing lately. Last summer an expert panel was appointed with the task of delivering proposals concerning the reforms that need to be made in Nordic cooperation. These proposals are to ensure that Nordic cooperation will continue to be a strong political forum which will benefit the inhabitants of the Nordic countries in the new millennium. Among the panel's tasks are a review of the geographical range of cooperation and examining the possibility and benefits of establishing cooperation with neighbouring areas to the west.

Certainly there are already issues on the Nordic agenda which are interesting and important for these areas to the west of us. One example is the decision of the Nordic Prime Ministers just over a year ago to design a cross-disciplinary strategy for sustainability in the Nordic countries and the adjacent areas. While it actually refers to the neighbouring areas to the east and northeast of the Nordic countries, this strategy is of importance to all of the North Atlantic area. Pollution respects no boundaries, and oceanic and atmospheric currents spread it far and wide. I also want to mention the Finnish proposal to the European Union on "The Northern Dimension", which has now been incorporated into EU policy. Environmental issues, not least the problems of marine pollution, play an important part there. As regards the implementation of the Northern Dimension initiative, the Nordic Council of Ministers and The Arctic Council have been spotlighted, among others. The Nordic Council of Ministers has taken a deep interest in this initiative and is closely monitoring its progress.

I would also like to mention Nordic projects on the agenda of the Nordic Council of Ministers, such as research into the ocean climate to study the interaction of oceanic and atmospheric currents in the North Atlantic, and a planned project on healthcare in thinly populated Arctic areas through telemedicine, plus a few others in the pipeline. And I am convinced that the interesting programme presented here today will provide us with inspiration for closer cooperation in fields which are of great significance for the whole of the North Atlantic Area.

On that note I shall conclude my opening remarks and declare the seminar open with my hopes that it will generate lively and imaginative discussions.