Foreword
The aid and development landscape has changed dramatically over the past year. International official development aid (ODA) has declined. We are also seeing increased rivalry between the major powers and far-reaching policy changes across international development organisations. This is happening as the need for international development assistance is increasing.
In this situation it is important to the Labour Party Government to make the most of Norway’s development assistance. The World Bank is the single largest recipient of Norwegian aid. By using its ability to leverage capital from international markets, the bank’s financing model generates a manyfold increase in the development and climate finance available to recipient countries. It is in Norway’s interests that the World Bank remains a key driver of development, focusing on eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and addressing global challenges.
One fundamental principle of Norwegian foreign and development policy is to promote international law through binding international cooperation. The multilateral system, established and expanded in the wake of World War II, is being challenged by increasing geopolitical and geoeconomic polarisation. Major providers of ODA have made significant cuts to funding, while there is pressure on internationally agreed norms such as those enshrined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The combination of major and rapid changes in the international development landscape on the one hand and the significance of the World Bank as the single largest recipient of Norwegian aid on the other requires the Labour Party Government to take a fresh look at Norway’s cooperation with the World Bank in order to establish a set of long-term priorities. The National Audit Office of Norway has also recommended that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs develops a comprehensive long-term strategy for providing development assistance through World Bank trust funds and financial intermediary funds (FIFs). That recommendation is being acted on, but in this strategy the Labour Party Government also intends to look at the full extent of Norway’s cooperation with the World Bank.
Norway wants the World Bank to continue to champion its core mandate: eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and addressing global challenges such as climate change. The Labour Party Government will also work to ensure that the development assistance provided by the World Bank is effective in addressing the key objectives of institution-building, job creation, mobilisation of private capital and fighting illicit capital flows.
Norwegian political priorities are increasingly under pressure. Democracy, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), inclusion, diversity and the fight against climate change cannot be taken for granted. These priorities will remain important to Norway in its cooperation with the World Bank, in alliance with likeminded partners.
With this strategy, the Government seeks to clarify how Norway will work with the World Bank in the years leading up to 2030. The World Bank has been among Norway’s most important development policy partners since 1945. The partnership has endured through changing times. This strategy is intended to help ensure that the partnership will continue to deliver for Norwegian interests and objectives in the coming years, too.
Minister of International Development, Åsmund Aukrust
Oslo, 20 March 2026