Speech at dinner for president Michelle Bachelet, Chile

Madam President, Dear Michelle Bachelet,
Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour to welcome the President of Chile and her delegation to this dinner here tonight. Your visit is greatly appreciated and it underscores the excellent relations between our two countries.

Many of us have followed your own remarkable career with great sympathy and expectation. Your life is a reflection of the recent history of your country.

You have yourself been a victim of oppression under dictatorship, and now you are the Head of State of a truly democratic nation.

Some of us, including myself have had the privilege of meeting you earlier, when you were on the path to where you stand today. I must therefore confess that I was not impartial when the presidential election in Chile took place early last year.

Chile has a special place in many Norwegian hearts, including my own. In fact, one of my first political functions was as board member of the Norwegian “Action for Chile”, during the times of dictatorship.

We sold buttons, collected money for the underground opposition, and adopted political prisoners.

My first visit to Chile was as an election observer at the referendum which marked the end of the Pinochet regime, back in 1988.

I was not alone. I remember celebrating the result through the night, in front of the Moneda Palace in Santiago. And I was in good company. Together with Mr Reiulf Steen and Ms Bianca Jagger.

Since then, I have always been ready to serve as election observer.

And if you ask those of us who where there in front of the Moneda Palace,

why we became interested in international affairs,

why international solidarity became so important for us,

and why we believe that democracy and human rights can and will prevail,

– we will say – look to Chile.

The dramatic events in the 1970s triggered an influx to Norway of Chilean nationals - political refugees, who managed to escape the hatchets and terror of the Pinochet regime.

They came to Norway to the tunes of the political protest song El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.

Many of the Chileans who came here where among the best and the brightest of their generations. Today they number more than 8000.

They enrich our country and our culture. They are very well integrated. Norway has received very valuable cultural stimulus.

And we love Chilean literature. Suffice it to mention the giant, Pablo Neruda, and Isabel Allende.

In the course of a decade, Isabel Allende alone has sold almost 400 000 books in Norway.

***

Today, Chile is a highly respected country.

Its economic performance is among the very best of Latin America.

As you know, we are not doing so badly ourselves

But, Norway and Chile share one problem.

That problem is how not to spend large public revenues from oil and copper respectively.

So we struggle together not to spend money.

Last year, upon the request of Chile, we sent the Secretary-General in our Ministry of Finance, Mr Tore Eriksen, to Chile to share with you how we try our best to manage the petroleum resources.

And how we avoid causing inflation or otherwise overheating the economy.

Today Chile, too, is saving billions of dollars. Much according to the same philosophy and economic thinking that we live by in Norway.

 

And it gives me great personal pleasure that we have managed to turn the guidelines for managing the petroleum revenues – Handlingsregelen – into an export item.

For the benefit of the future of the people of Chile and Norway.

President Bachelet, you and I have much in common.

Let me mention two aspects:

- We both have predecessors whom the new Secretary-General of the United Nations has appointed Special Envoys of Climate Chang.

Former President Ricardo Lagos and former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland.

And - we are both close to the field of medicine.

You as a medical doctor by training and an experienced health manager.

On my part I am heading a government which is committed to helping children survive and their mothers too,  by pursuing the Millennium Development Goals, No 4 and No 5 regarding reductions in child mortality and improving maternal health.

I am grateful today that you agreed to join the network of global leaders who will assume a special responsibility for these two Millennium Goals

Dear President Bachelet,

Let me once again express my appreciation for your visit to Norway. I am confident that our relations will continue to develop and expand in the future. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you all to join me in a toast to President Bachelet, to Chile and to the friendship between our two countries.

Salud!