-In not too long, we will invite expertise from different environments to a big workshop on Africa, Jonas Gahr Støre, right, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in the Christian Norwegian daily Vårt Land today. In the foreign affairs debate in Parliament last week, Gahr Støre spoke in favour of a ‘renewed’ policy towards Africa. (15-FEB-06)
 
This article, written by HRH’s Project Manager for East Africa Niels Jacob Harbitz, is based on an article written by Per Anders Hoel in today’s issue of Vårt Land. Photo of Gahr Støre: the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While politicians from the Christian People’s Party, who lost the Prime Minister’s position and left office with the coalition government that was defeated in last year’s elections, says Gahr Støre’s initiative has nothing new to it and may also feel a little offended about the implied criticism of their own Africa policy, they still don’t want to criticise the new government on this particular issue.

-We want to focus, prioritise and concentrate our efforts
On being asked who exactly it is that Gahr Støre has in mind to invite, he responds that he wants to draw upon all the different environments, circles and network where there is expertise on Africa, be it NGOs, different kinds of development organisations and companies with accumulated competence on doing business in Africa. The Minister’s plan is to put his words into action within the next couple of months. Several practical details still need to be sorted out, but a round table conference is not an unlikely first step. The over-arching ambition is to ‘focus, prioritise, and concentrate our efforts where Norwegian efforts can make an added value to the accumulated international effort’.

-We will take a proactive role, in the UN, towards the World Bank and …
Gahr Støre’s announced renewal of Norwegian policies towards Africa aims also to connect and coordinate general foreign policy with the particular development cooperation projects Norway as a state agent is involved in. -Our goal is an Africa without conflicts, where people can build their futures in peace, Støre added. His analysis, he emphasised in clunclusion, draws upon the facts that the number of armed conflicts has actually gone down in recent years, that more democratic elections are being arranged, that more parts of Africa experience economic growth and that Africa is rapidly becoming an important exporter of oil. This final point is why Norway also wishes to contribute by way of sharing of our own expertise in the petroleum business, through the programme ‘Oil-for’Development’. Støre also announced that Norway intends to take a more proactive role towards the UN, the World Bank and other donors to strengthen intenrational efforts on the continent.