Bolivia’s President to visit Norway 1–4 March

Bolivia’s President, Evo Morales, is coming to Norway for an official visit from 1 to 4 March this year. Minister of the Environment and International Cooperation Erik Solheim will be the host for the visit.

President Morales’ visit to Norway will be in three parts. The first part will be in Karasjok in North Norway, where the Finnmark County Governor will be host. On Sunday 2 March, President Morales will visit the Samediggi (Sami Parliament) and the Sapmi cultural park to learn more about Sami culture and history. State Secretary Raimo Valla of the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion will be present during this part of the visit. 

The second part of the visit will be in Stavanger, and will include a visit to an oil platform together with the Minister of the Environment and International Cooperation, Erik Solhiem, and a meeting with representatives of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Petrad (the International Programme for Petroleum Management and Administration) and Norad (the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) on Monday 3 March. A press meeting will be held at Stavanger Airport, Sola, at 15:45. 

The last part of the President’s visit will be in Oslo on 3 and 4 March. The Minister of the Environment and International Cooperation will host a dinner for the President at Tøyen Manor on Monday 3 March. The President will have an audience with the King and meetings with President of the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) Thorbjørn Jagland, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen, respectively, on Tuesday 4 March.

In 2007, Norway established an embassy branch office in La Paz under the Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The embassy branch office is facilitating the growing cooperation between Bolivia and Norway, mainly related to petroleum resource management as part of the Norwegian Oil for Development-programme. There is also interest in establishing cooperation on environmental and climate change issues. Minister Solheim visited Bolivia in 2006 and 2007. 

Press contact: Information Adviser Wera Helstrøm, tel.: +47 99 40 93 23.