The Prime Minister's introduction at the meeting with members of the Foreign Press Association

As delivered (transcribed)

Good morning,

Thank you, Richard (Milne, FT).

I know that you are better served by asking questions. I see many familiar faces – and you know the state of Norwegian politics pretty well – so, I think I'll be very short.

Sometimes it’s worthwhile summing up – by what I am doing this week – as an illustration of where we stand, where we are:

Today, there will be an announcement of a bidding; an area outside of the southwest coast of Norway for floating offshore wind, where we will test to see if there are – you know – interested industrial actors who would look into that opportunity in a turbulent renewable energy field. So, that’s happening today, which I think is an illustration of a contemporary issue in all our countries.

I came from the EPC meeting in Albania last Friday; all European countries – basically – not Russia, not Belarus. This issue of energy and energy transition, I think, is the most – in addition to AI – transforming issue in our societies these days. I had Prime Minister Starmer here a few days ago. We are deepening our collaboration on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and on renewables. And on how we make all of that work in the transition we are in – I think that is crucial.

The second thing I'll do today is that I will announce new measures linked to what we call costs of living – and particularly in the daily purchase of food. I think that is where Norwegians really see that prices are going up in ways they have not seen before. Now there is turbulence in markets that can explain this or that, you know, regarding some products. But there are also price hikes where people say we simply cannot explain why this is happening. So, we are presenting some new measures to tighten control, to seek real competition among the different players. As you know, we have three major groups in Norway. – How are they linked to what they present in the shops? On Friday, I will call them to my office, simply to ask questions about this.

Then, this evening, I travel north. I'll be in the north of Norway until late Thursday. It will be a debate on particular issues linked to preparedness and security and how we work to follow up on our Defense Plan. – Not only the military part, but also the civil part. On how we prepare ourselves for more extreme weather, for hybrid threats which are – you know – all countries face those similar challenges.

On Thursday, I will be hosting the NATO Secretary General on a one day visit to the Ofoten area, which is north of Narvik, an important place. Mr. Rutte was supposed to come here on the day I had my meeting in Washington DC with President Trump, so it was delayed, and I am happy we can have it now.

For me it will also be a visit to Kirkenes, which is the border town to Russia, suffering pretty severely from current affairs of sanctions, shops closing, combined with some reduced quotas in the Barents Sea for the fishing community; a challenge that we need to address and face.

You have seen that I’ve put forward a National Security Strategy last week, on the 8th of May, which I think is an illustration of what modern contemporary security is all about. It is about the military dimension, but it is also about your economic and technological capacity to be in the transition we are in. It is about your trade agreements with your closest partners – for us Europe, of course. And it is about preparedness – down to the local level, for the local shop, the local union, the local civil society organizations, how they interact – to be prepared for different scenarios that may challenge security. So, the follow-up on that will be key.

My last point – of course – is Ukraine, the ongoing war on our continent. We have been actively engaged with our European partners, with our US friends, on how to take the process forward towards the ceasefire, and then negotiations on a fair and lasting peace. Today, President Trump may be calling both the Russian President and the Ukrainian President, and we have also been actively engaged in putting forward ideas and proposals for that. 

So, this is going to be something which is on my agenda nearly every day, because it is such a pressing issue. I'm working – in particular – in close contact with the President of Finland. We have been partners as foreign ministers some years ago, we know each other well. And Finland and Norway – both as border countries to Russia – I think have a special experience to share with our European partners and also our American friends.

So, these are the issues, I think – you know – touching on energy, economy, and the rest. And then, there are the elections. You may ask questions about that. I think that what we see now is that we're going to have tight elections – which is good. That's what democracy should be about. I am confident that we can win. I had that deep feeling also half a year ago, but then the challenge was larger. Now, I think we have been able to lift the Labour Party's role and status in Norwegian politics. I think that the feedback we get from people we meet is that the stable, secure governance in these days is appreciated. – Some issues may be put aside to be able to concentrate on the most important parts. 

(Then the floor was open for questions).