Peace mediators meet at Oslo Forum 2008

Mediators from conflicts all over the world will meet to exchange experience at Losby Manor outside Oslo from 24 to 26 June.

This year’s peace mediators’ retreat will focus on dialogue and new opportunities for and perspectives on negotiations. It will be opened by Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and State Secretaries Raymond Johansen and Håken A. Gudbrandsen will attends parts of the retreat.

There will be around 100 participants, including Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran, Jonathan Powell, former Chief of Staff to Tony Blair, Gareth Evans, President of the International Crisis Group, Lord Malloch Brown, British Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, and Pampha Bhusal, Maoist and Government Minister in Nepal.

Oslo Forum has taken place every year since 2003. It brings together peace mediators and key personnel from peace processes all over the world, including the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Somalia. The aim of the Forum is to provide an opportunity for sharing practical experience of mediation between conflicting parties, and to improve the international community’s ability to deal with armed conflict. The retreat is an important element in Norway’s efforts to systematise and professionalise international peace process efforts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranges the retreat in cooperation with the Geneva-based organisation Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

The individual sessions will not be open to the press, but some of the participants will be available for interviews and comments. The preliminary list of participants is attached.

Press contact for Foreign Minister Støre, State Secretary Johansen and the retreat in general:
Communications adviser Kristin Enstad, mobile phone: +47 482 688 35.

Press contact for Minister of the Environment and International Development Solheim and State Secretary Gulbrandsen:
Communications adviser Wera Helstrøm, mobile phone: +47 994 09 323.