The Prime Minister's introduction at the press conference after meeting with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

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Good afternoon to all of you. It’s a true pleasure for me to welcome Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Norway. It's been a long time since we’ve had the Italian Prime Minister here. – And we’ve had a lot to talk about, Prime Minister. I think we agreed that this is a first visit, to prepare for the next visit, because we want to travel outside Oslo, and we want to work on many issues.

There are many challenges for Europe that we discuss regularly and that we have discussed right now. We believe that reaching agreements on security, on the new industrial challenges for Europe in the global market, for new areas of industries such as space, critical minerals, ocean technologies, etc. – For all that we need partnerships between countries who can compare notes and move forward.

And we’ve discovered that Norway and Italy have many potential partnerships to develop. And they already exist. We will now meet our leading companies at dinner after this press conference. And there's a lot to move forward on together.

We are NATO allies. We have 120 years of diplomatic relations. And we fully appreciate that Italy, with its location in Europe, its Mediterranean identity, its outlook at what is happening in the south of Europe, also has experiences and a keen interest in the Arctic. – Not only Umberto Nobile who flew over the North Pole 100 years ago, but also through modern diplomacy, and we count on Italy as one of the countries who understand what is happening in the Arctic. – And we very much value that. Because for Norway, being a northern Arctic nation, next to Russia, having attentive ears in Rome and Italy is important.

Our trade is important. It has grown substantially. Norway is providing about 10 percent of Italy's gas. And we intend to remain a stable provider of energy to Italy. I have noted in recent years that our relations have grown stronger. We meet in NATO. We meet when we address the challenges facing Ukraine. And we meet in European political community contexts. I appreciate, Prime Minister, also our very open and frank discussions and the role you take in those meetings to pull Europe together.

So, today we have agreed on areas where we already cooperate. We will maintain those, and we have also identified new areas where we have expectations for Norway and Italy to do more work together. I find this exciting and I look forward to give inspiration to my colleagues in government and in businesses and industries to deepen their relations with Italy.

Then let us also mention that there are wars going on close to us, in Ukraine and also in the Gulf. And we all pay a price because this is creating instability, higher energy prices, affecting our citizens, our industries, our economies. And again, I appreciate our exchanges on this, Georgia. I think we have to let our voice be heard to seek to end these conflicts, because these are not conflicts that are meant to last. They have to be settled in pragmatic ways. And again, here I appreciate that our diplomats will work together and see what kind of contribution we can make to make these wars end, because we all have a lot more important to do than to be drawn into more conflicts that affect all of us.

So, I count on Italy as a close friend, the Prime Minister has been a good partner, you are very welcome to Norway – so, Georgia, the floor is yours.