During World War II strong relations were fostered between Norwegians and the 1.600 Yugoslav prisoners of War who survived in the German prison camps in Norway.
Friendship associations and sister municipalities in Serbia and Norway, formed after World War II still promote and develop these ties.
Substantial Norwegian development assistance in many sectors has also strengthened the ties and contributed to broad relations at all levels of society.
During the last ten years, Norwegian companies have invested 1.5 billion Euros in Serbia, making Norway one of the biggest investors in Serbia. Still, relatively few Norwegian companies are operating here. Those which are here, however, are reasonably satisfied with their operations, despite occasional challenges, red tape and bureaucratic inefficiency being two of them. Telenor is the Norwegian landmark investor in Serbia, but Norwegian companies see opportunity for investments in a range of sectors. In the energy sector, in particular sustainable energy, there are potential opportunities Norwegian energy companies being among the leading European energy companies. Norwegian energy companies have made substantial investments in the energy sector in several neighbouring countries.
Norway is not a full EU member but member of the EEA (European Economic Area), which covers most of the economic aspects of the EU cooperation. Our experience is that we have profited from this. It is therefore natural for us to support the aspirations of Serbia and the other countries in the region to join the EU. The Norwegian government is of the view that the EU is the vital organization for peace and economic development in Europe. Particularly in the Balkans, given the region’s turbulent past, we think the rapid EU-integration of all the countries in the region would be important for peace, political and social stability, cooperation and economic development in the region, something which also is stressed in a White Paper on Norway’s cooperation with South East Europe, published in April 2011. We thus hope Serbia will be granted EU candidate status as soon as possible. The White paper continues the long lines of Norway’s commitment to Serbia’s development, prosperity stability and integration into European structures, through focusing on cooperation particularly within the areas of Rule of law, with focus on the courts, the police and independent supervisory bodies like the State Auditor, Anti-corruption body and the Ombudsman; Defence and security sector reform; Energy and climate; and Furthering gender equality, women’s rights and minority rights.
Alongside with large bilateral projects, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade has during 2011 obtained more substantial funds for support of projects in Serbia and Montenegro. Compared to 2.5 million NOK in 2010, the Embassy project budget in 2011 was 7 million NOK. Human rights, security sector reform and gender equality were the sectors that were given priority during last year.
The list of agreed projects is available at:
http://www.norveska.org.rs/Embassy/bilateral/Embassy-fund-2011---Guidelines-for-application/List-of-Embassy-small-grants/
For 2012 € 10 million is allocated for further projects, assisting Serbia to realise its ambitions of EU-integration and developing further the close relations between our two countries.
H.E. Mr. Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg
Norwegian Ambassador to Serbia