ting
03-31-2010, 12:18 PM
Norway acknowledges challenge from 'not yet stable' neighbour
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News ServiceMarch 29, 2010Comments (17)
OTTAWA - Just hours before attending an Arctic Summit near Ottawa to discuss issues emerging among the five coastal nations of the circumpolar world, Norway's foreign minister highlighted the challenge of negotiating the Arctic's future with Russia, which he described as "not yet a stable, reliable, predictable state."
While Jonas Gahr Store stressed that his country's strategy is to build a trusting, co-operative relationship with its eastern neighbour on Arctic issues, he labelled as "unhelpful" recent comments by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in which he declared it "absolutely inadmissible" for other countries to try to "limit Russia's access" to northern resources.
Medvedev's comments, made in a speech to Russian officials following a European Union debate on Arctic policy, appeared to have been directed at the EU's efforts to become a bigger player in setting environmental regulations in the northern waters as melting sea ice invites more Arctic shipping and oil exploration.
But Store, speaking to a small group of journalists and diplomats at a pre-summit briefing Monday at an Ottawa hotel, said Medvedev's latest controversial remarks typify the challenge facing Norway as it works to resolve an offshore Arctic boundary dispute with Russia and to generally build secure bilateral relations with the former Soviet state, which shares a 200-kilometre land border with Norway and a vast maritime frontier.
Store's comments also followed news of a deadly terrorist bombing on Monday on Moscow transit trains, initially believed to be linked to a long-running struggle for Chechen independence.
"Since 1990, we have been on a journey with this neighbour," said Store, who described Russia's robust economic ambitions in the Arctic as one of the region's three driving forces — along with climate change and emerging resource riches — for Norway's "High North" foreign policy.
"Russia behaves almost like a normal state," Store noted. "We want a stable relationship based on law."
He acknowledged, however, that unlike Canada — which has what diplomats call "well-managed" Arctic territorial disputes with Denmark and the U.S. — Norway is working out its boundary disagreement in a potentially oil-rich part of the Barents Sea with a country that is still grappling with its transition from a totalitarian state to a democratic nation.
Some experts say Russia is "lost in transition," Store mused.
Citing uncertainty over the evolution of Russian society — in terms of democratic institutions, the rule of law, freedom of expression and the recent "clamp down" on opposition activities — he said it is "not certain in what state they will be" as the tumultuous reformation continues to unfold.
But he also credited Moscow with acting in a "civilized way" so far to work out undersea territorial claims and confront other issues — new shipping rules, oil exploration and polar security — common to the five Arctic coastal states whose foreign ministers were meeting Monday at a federal retreat in Chelsea, Que., hosted by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
He pushed for other countries to give a cautious reading to provocative statements coming out Moscow on northern issues, suggesting the need for a better appreciation of Russia's enormous and "legitimate" economic and cultural interest in the Arctic, and to calmly "look through the rhetoric" sometimes emanating from the Kremlin.
"We have to update our mental maps" and reject knee-jerk, Cold War-era interpretations of many Russian statements, he said.
Store added that Russia poses no "specific military threat" to his country, but insisted that it is "not an option" for Norway — a nation with an area of territorial waters six times greater than its land mass — to neglect its Arctic military capacity.
Addressing another major issue ahead of the Arctic Summit, the Norwegian minister acknowledged it is "not a good thing" that three members of the international Arctic Council — Iceland, Sweden and Finland — are "unhappy" about being excluded from Monday's talks.
While he reaffirmed that the five countries with an Arctic Ocean coastline have a special status "given to us by geography," he indicated that meetings of the coastal nations — Canada, Russia, Norway, the U.S. and Denmark — should not be used undermine the role of the broader Arctic Council, which embraces various northern aboriginal groups as "permanent participants" in researching and shaping international Arctic policies.
"We should keep the Arctic Council relevant," he said, adding that he Norway-council should remain the principal "venue for circumpolar Arctic discussions."
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Norway+acknowledges+challenge+from+stable+neighbour/2739438/story.html
For photos, formating and an overall more comfortable reading experience, please go to the source.
I think the FM points out some of the issues with dealing with Russia. And hints not to take them all that seriously all the time.
ps. For those of you thinking this article was about Sweden, sorry for misleading you.:lol:
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News ServiceMarch 29, 2010Comments (17)
OTTAWA - Just hours before attending an Arctic Summit near Ottawa to discuss issues emerging among the five coastal nations of the circumpolar world, Norway's foreign minister highlighted the challenge of negotiating the Arctic's future with Russia, which he described as "not yet a stable, reliable, predictable state."
While Jonas Gahr Store stressed that his country's strategy is to build a trusting, co-operative relationship with its eastern neighbour on Arctic issues, he labelled as "unhelpful" recent comments by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in which he declared it "absolutely inadmissible" for other countries to try to "limit Russia's access" to northern resources.
Medvedev's comments, made in a speech to Russian officials following a European Union debate on Arctic policy, appeared to have been directed at the EU's efforts to become a bigger player in setting environmental regulations in the northern waters as melting sea ice invites more Arctic shipping and oil exploration.
But Store, speaking to a small group of journalists and diplomats at a pre-summit briefing Monday at an Ottawa hotel, said Medvedev's latest controversial remarks typify the challenge facing Norway as it works to resolve an offshore Arctic boundary dispute with Russia and to generally build secure bilateral relations with the former Soviet state, which shares a 200-kilometre land border with Norway and a vast maritime frontier.
Store's comments also followed news of a deadly terrorist bombing on Monday on Moscow transit trains, initially believed to be linked to a long-running struggle for Chechen independence.
"Since 1990, we have been on a journey with this neighbour," said Store, who described Russia's robust economic ambitions in the Arctic as one of the region's three driving forces — along with climate change and emerging resource riches — for Norway's "High North" foreign policy.
"Russia behaves almost like a normal state," Store noted. "We want a stable relationship based on law."
He acknowledged, however, that unlike Canada — which has what diplomats call "well-managed" Arctic territorial disputes with Denmark and the U.S. — Norway is working out its boundary disagreement in a potentially oil-rich part of the Barents Sea with a country that is still grappling with its transition from a totalitarian state to a democratic nation.
Some experts say Russia is "lost in transition," Store mused.
Citing uncertainty over the evolution of Russian society — in terms of democratic institutions, the rule of law, freedom of expression and the recent "clamp down" on opposition activities — he said it is "not certain in what state they will be" as the tumultuous reformation continues to unfold.
But he also credited Moscow with acting in a "civilized way" so far to work out undersea territorial claims and confront other issues — new shipping rules, oil exploration and polar security — common to the five Arctic coastal states whose foreign ministers were meeting Monday at a federal retreat in Chelsea, Que., hosted by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
He pushed for other countries to give a cautious reading to provocative statements coming out Moscow on northern issues, suggesting the need for a better appreciation of Russia's enormous and "legitimate" economic and cultural interest in the Arctic, and to calmly "look through the rhetoric" sometimes emanating from the Kremlin.
"We have to update our mental maps" and reject knee-jerk, Cold War-era interpretations of many Russian statements, he said.
Store added that Russia poses no "specific military threat" to his country, but insisted that it is "not an option" for Norway — a nation with an area of territorial waters six times greater than its land mass — to neglect its Arctic military capacity.
Addressing another major issue ahead of the Arctic Summit, the Norwegian minister acknowledged it is "not a good thing" that three members of the international Arctic Council — Iceland, Sweden and Finland — are "unhappy" about being excluded from Monday's talks.
While he reaffirmed that the five countries with an Arctic Ocean coastline have a special status "given to us by geography," he indicated that meetings of the coastal nations — Canada, Russia, Norway, the U.S. and Denmark — should not be used undermine the role of the broader Arctic Council, which embraces various northern aboriginal groups as "permanent participants" in researching and shaping international Arctic policies.
"We should keep the Arctic Council relevant," he said, adding that he Norway-council should remain the principal "venue for circumpolar Arctic discussions."
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Norway+acknowledges+challenge+from+stable+neighbour/2739438/story.html
For photos, formating and an overall more comfortable reading experience, please go to the source.
I think the FM points out some of the issues with dealing with Russia. And hints not to take them all that seriously all the time.
ps. For those of you thinking this article was about Sweden, sorry for misleading you.:lol: