United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’s Opening remarks at press encounter with Foreign Minister of Norway Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide and Prime Minister of Somalia Hassan Ali Khaire on the margins of the Oslo Forum.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, it’s a pleasure to be with all of you today. Indeed, we live in a dangerous world where we see a multiplication of new conflicts, old conflicts that seem never to die, and conflicts becoming more and more interlinked and more linked to what is now a new threat of global terrorism. There was always terrorism in the world, but this form of global terrorism is indeed new, and terrorism can strike anywhere at any time.
There are very strong reasons for us to do everything to prevent conflict and to do everything to solve conflict. As a matter of fact the number of countries with violent conflicts is the highest in the last 30 years. If we compare with 2007 and consider the number of violent situations that can be qualified as war according to the number of casualties, they have tripled. If we consider low intensity conflicts since 2007, they have increased by 60 per cent.
At the same time, taking as a reference 2005, when we had the lowest number of people being killed in battle, we have now tenfold that level, which means that the situation is indeed deteriorating in the world. That means that prevention is more necessary than ever, and the more difficult conflict resolution is the more important prevention becomes. But to prevent is not enough because conflicts are there, they need to be solved, and so mediation becomes an absolutely fundamental instrument in our action. Formal mediation but also backdoor mediation that helps bring together parties and especially the mediation that goes down, that trickles down, that involves communities, that involves societies, that manages to guarantee reconciliation, stability, cohesion and inclusivity in today’s world.
During this period, Oslo will be the world capital of mediation, which means the world capital of peace. This is well deserved because Norway always has had a very strong commitment to support all UN activities in mediation but beyond that, Norway has always been directly involved in mediation activities around the world helping to solve several of the conflicts that we have heard about. Fortunately, thanks to Norway’s commitment they were possible to be resolved in the past. Norway is extremely active in helping the grassroots, allowing for bottom-up initiatives to be more widespread in the world, and that is reason for us to be extremely grateful for the action of the Norwegian government and the Norwegian people, and a reason for me to be extremely happy to be with you today.
Children must not be traumatised by being separated from their parents, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said.
The Secretary General defended the rights of migrant and refugee children, but did not single out the US.
“In the past six weeks, nearly two thousand children have been forcibly separated from their parents,”UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in his opening remarks to the 38th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva – the last session before his four-year term expires in August.
Zeid said that the American Association of Pediatrics in the US, had called it a cruel practice of “government-sanctioned child abuse” which may cause “irreparable harm” with “lifelong consequences”.
‘Over the years, Norwegian aid has been spread too thinly, both geographically and thematically. If we are to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and make the best possible use of our aid funds, we must concentrate our efforts,’ said Minister of International Development Nikolai Astrup.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide is hosting the annual Oslo Forum, a meeting place for leaders from all over the world, at Losby Manor outside Oslo on 19 and 20 June. UN Secretary-General António Guterres will also take part at this year’s Forum. After taking part in the Forum, Mr Guterres will attend an audience at the Royal Palace, and will have an additional programme with Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
Last Thursday, Oslo announced that it will be requesting an additional 700 U.S. Marines to train in the Scandinavian country near the Russian boarder.
DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator focused on the Middle East and North Africa region, announced last night that it had acquired a further 3.74 million shares in London-listed Faroe Petroleum at a price of £1.25 per share representing 1.02 per cent of the outstanding shares in the company.
The Norwegian government has decided to welcome continued USMC rotational training and exercises in Norway, with a volume of up to a total of 700 marines, initially for a period of up to five years, says Minister of Defence Frank Bakke-Jensen.
A pair of Norwegian politicians has nominated US president Donald Trump for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. In a statement released on Thursday, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a lawmaker, and Per-Willy Amundsen, a former justice minister, said Mr Trump deserved the prize for having “taken a huge and important step in the direction of the disarmament, peace and reconciliation between North and South Korea”.
Photo credit Ragnar Time, 2017.
Tung-Chieh Chuang conducting outdoor in Sweden last year.
National security experts all over Washington spent their winter binge-watching the second season of a popular Norwegian TV series titled Okkupert (or “Occupied”), in which Russia brazenly occupies Norway after a dispute over energy.
Over the last 10 years, NICFI has granted a total of 23.5 billion Norwegian krone (about $2.9 billion) to projects aimed at conserving tropical forests and reducing associated greenhouse gas emissions in several developing countries. Norway even paid three countries directly to protect their forests and draw down emissions: Brazil, in particular, has been a 
It is a scorching hot June day in Gwadar, a port city on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, and more than a dozen eight-year-old children have blocked a road by lying across it. Dressed in traditional shalwar kameez, the kids are protesting against a severe water shortage and long hours without electricity. The traffic is stopped for a while but then the children get up, rub the dust off their clothes and run towards the crowded markets.
Clearing agents, traders, terminal operators, banks and many other government and non-government functionaries are linked in the system and the relevant data is visible on screen to all the stakeholders. Goods Declarations are processed through paperless workflow environment which ensures speedy disposal, decreases dwell time and cost of doing business. Moreover, Risk Management System (RMS) of WeBOC further reduces dwell time, under Green Channel, by marking consignment directly to the port authorities thus, bypassing examination and assessment.
The corridor comprises energy and infrastructure projects, industrial development and the Gwadar port. The port is the linchpin. It is located near the Strait of Hormuz, the passage between the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. As the principal goal of the corridor is to connect China’s Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea, no Gwadar port means no CPEC.
According to the agreement between Pakistan and China, 91 per cent of the revenues from the Gwadar port over the next 40 years are to go to the port’s operator, Chinese Overseas Port Holding Company, with the remaining 9 per cent to go to the federal government. No revenues are directly reserved for Balochistan.
One such country is Norway with which Pakistan has very cordial relations. Norway established diplomatic relations with Pakistan since its independence in 1947. Both countries enjoy cordial relations based on commonality of views on a number of important issues. It is encouraging to note that the relations between them are following an upward trend. These relations are reinforced by the presence of a large Pakistani Diaspora in Norway. At present there are 50,000 Pakistanis working in Norway-Norwegian nationals.
Kåre Hanken, Taiwan, 2013
Kåre Hanken with Taipei Century Choir in 2013
May 17, 2013 at Tafong Elementary school in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
(Bergen, Norway) – The Holberg Prize was conferred upon Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein by HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
11 June 2018 Oslo – Yet another European corporation, this time 
To improve offshore oil spill preparedness, Norway’s government and the oil industry are building an offshore broadband wireless network.
“In times like these, when the security landscape is complex and uncertain, we need close allies. I am especially pleased with the strong UK-Norwegian relations, says State Secretary Tone Skogen. Earlier this week Minister for Defence Procurement Guto Bebb hosted Skogen on her visit aboard a US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft – equipment which both the UK and Norway will soon own themselves.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Transparency in Payments (TIP) has been implemented in the Finland, Norway and Sweden markets. TIP, which is being introduced in conjunction with NewGen ISS, is an industry initiative focused on providing airlines with increased transparency and control in the collection of their sales generated in the travel agency channel. At the same time, it will enable travel agents to take advantage of new forms of payment for the remittance of customer funds.
The Oslo City Court has convicted a Syrian-Norwegian in his thirties to two and a half years in prison for breaking immigration laws and falsifying documents. While the court found that the life and the health of Syrian refugees was not in clear danger, it stressed the man should be punished nonetheless.