Let me first of all say what a pleasure it is for me to be back in Mumbai. Mumbai is the centre of Norwegian business engagement with India, in particular related to the maritime sector. But it is also the city in which some of Norway’s most talented young musicians have been performing recently, at the spectacular music scene of Blue Frog.
When my Embassy in New Delhi decided to become partner for this conference, we did so for three main reasons:
Firstly, the importance and timeliness of the chosen topics for deliberation
Secondly, the impressive and broad list of participants, including government, multilateral organisations and groups, academics and last but certainly not least, business
And thirdly, Strategic Foresights Groups excellent tradition of cooperation with Norway and Norwegian partners
Let me first of all congratulate Strategic Foresight Group for launching this “initiative for action and multi-stakeholder dialogue”. Bringing key partners from different segments of society together is an excellent starting point for embarking on a broad dialogue of how to achieve sustainable development – and to develop partnerships and networks to put ideas into action.
Let me very briefly comment on one of the main topics to be discussed during the conference.
Ensuring energy security and addressing the global challenge of climate change are issues of priority for my government, and for our cooperation with India.
I applaud the Indian government for putting climate change high on the Indian national agenda. I am personally very impressed by the commitment that we see from both the public and private sectors of this country, and reflected in the media, and the innovative solutions we see produced here. We certainly look forward to studying the National Action Plan for climate change, which is to be launched by the Indian Government.
A recent international poll showed that Indians are among the most environmentally conscious peoples of this planet. This gives cause for optimism for India, as a growing global economic and political power, to be able to develop a low carbon economy that will benefit not only India but the world itself.
Building partnerships, between our countries, and across sectors, is a guiding principle of the work my Embassy is doing. The Embassy is proud to be a facilitator of project cooperation between some of our countries most prominent institutions and research centers of excellence on issues of mutual interest and benefit.
We run a programme of bringing these institutions together, in particular with regard to joint research projects related to energy, climate change and the environment, and we strive to build public-private partnerships in order to achieve our common goals.
We have a very good and dynamic bilateral cooperation with India on climate change and environment issues, which was confirmed last week during the India-Norway Joint Commission which took place in Oslo.
Norway is aiming very high when it comes to reducing CO2 emissions at home. By developing partnerships with India, between industry, research and government, we hope to both be part of developing a successful low carbon economic growth in India, and at the same time help us meet our national climate target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.Developing clean technologies are key factors in ensuring continued, yet sustainable, economic growth. Norway was fortunate to be able to fuel its growth with hydropower. Norway has a lot to offer when it comes to renewable energy, such as off shore wind technology and solar energy. India is an important provider of renewable energy, such as wind power, and is doing important work when it comes to energy efficiency and green buildings. We witness excellent developments when it comes to cooperation between Norway and India in this regard, and there is a great potential for joining forces even further. Since I took up my posting as Ambassador to India, I have witnessed how actively the business sector - from both India and Norway - is engaging in meeting the challenges of climate change. Profit will always be a motive and a driver for the private sector, but I believe there also exists a general will, across sectors, to contribute: to do one’s share. That is why I am hopeful that the dialogues that this conference will embark upon will in fact not end here, but stimulate the action that we so urgently need to happen. Western countries are sometimes accused of having too much faith in a “technological fix” to a sustainable future. Developing new technologies for a sustainable future and continued growth is certainly crucial for success. But let me assure you that my Government is fully aware of the complexity of the issues at hand – which is why we are pleased to be a sponsor of this conference. I believe this conference will contribute to raising awareness of precisely that: we need to deal with the local and the global, with not only energy security but food security, with social implications, with education, with crisis prevention and management, with ethics, and with the all important issue of peace.
I certainly look forward to studying the initiatives for action that you plan
 Print this Article
|
