Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all I would like to thank the Norwegian side, His Majesty King Harald V and the Prime Minister for the invitation. We were very happy to see that our relations are not only developing in a very positive way, but that our Norwegian colleagues are committed to continued work along these lines in the future. In recent years our political dialogue has become much more intensive.
The calendar of events in Russia and Norway includes annual top-level and high-level visits. We know that the Norwegian Foreign Ministry has declared 2002 to be the Russia Year in Norwegian diplomacy. Russia and Norway intend to actively promote cooperation at all levels. The joint political statement we adopted today, while recognizing the success achieved in bilateral interaction, also identifies our strategic priorities for the future.
One of the central problems we discussed was deepening our business partnership. I am convinced that the documents we have signed today will take us closer to achieving that goal. These documents that have to do with the postal services, electronic communications, information technologies, control of tax and other economic crimes as well as regulation and joint work of the border agencies.
We have made considerable progress in preparing an agreement on a multilateral nuclear environmental programme in the Russian Federation. We paid much attention to the management of our shared natural resources, which are the heritage of both our countries. Above all, I am referring to the fish resources. And we have confirmed that we will do everything to enable Russia and Norway to solve the problems that sometimes arise in this area on the basis of compromise, in the spirit of respect and the good-neighbourly relations that we have enjoyed recently.
Our countries are major European producers and exporters of energy. And we value the opinion of our Norwegian partners on the entire range of these problems, including the issues of pricing. Joint work between Norway and Russia in that sphere is an important element in the ongoing European dialogue.
Contacts between the regions of the Russian Federation and Norway have been developing successfully. We have seen the growing involvement of Norwegian business in Russia, especially in large energy projects. We have discussed our interaction in the Barents/Euro-Arctic Council and other international organizations.
Anticipating some of your questions, let me say that we have also discussed the demarcation of the Barents Sea. It is not an easy problem. As the Prime Minister said during the discussion, it arose when we were still children, and we have expressed the hope that we will solve it before we go into retirement. But I must say that all the decisions should be thoroughly considered and oriented strictly towards achieving a sustainable balance of interests.
During our talks we exchanged opinions on the main issues in European and international politics. They had to do with concrete regions of the world and more general issues such as the fight against international terrorism.
We touched upon the issues connected with Afghanistan and Iraq. We have full understanding with Norway there. We have worked on these issues together. I am sure that we will build our interaction in the future in the same context.
I am pleased to say that Russian-Norwegian relations have a solid basis and a very good future. Thank you.
Question: From Russia’s point of view, who is to blame for the lack of agreement on the border in the North of the Barents Sea, and what is necessary for a solution to be found?
Vladimir Putin: I think that if we want to negotiate successfully we must rule out putting the “blame” on any parties to the negotiating process. It is a very complicated issue and the main condition for its successful solution is respect for the interests of both negotiating parties.
I have the impression that our colleagues want to solve that problem. For our part we will try to sustain this regime of joint work.
Question: Can you speak about the prospects of Russian-Norwegian cooperation on Spitsbergen.
Vladimir Putin (adding to Kjell Bondevik’s answer): I agree with the Prime Minister. The problems of the environment protection are issues about which we must think constantly and jointly. We proceed from what has been said today. The Prime Minister has just reiterated my position, the Norwegian side has confirmed that it is committed to abiding by the international law and the established practice in this sphere. We are satisfied with that clarification and we are ready to work together.
Question: My question is about the fight against international terrorism. What concrete assistance can Norway offer in the fight against extremism and do you feel that Norway and Russia have narrowed their differences after the talks today?
Vladimir Putin: We discussed these problems at length today. The problem of terrorism is global in character. If you look at the statements and propaganda of the ideological leaders of international terror you will see the following. These people have in fact set themselves the global task of creating what they call a “world caliphate”. That is very redolent of the world communist revolution, only in its extremist-Islamic edition. In other words, their goals are global. I would like to stress that it should not be confused with Islam in general. Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. But that is not the only trend whose representatives try to achieve their political goals by terrorist methods. There are others as well. All these groups are structured as networks. There is no visible enemy, no frontline. Small forces can deliver major blows, as we have seen in the United States on September 11, last year.
In that sense the efforts of each country are important in the fight against terrorism. Because we can counter the international terrorist networking only by our own active systemic work coordinated at the international level.
We never had any doubts that Norway was our partner in this joint work. And today’s meeting has consolidated that sense of partnership. I briefed Mr Bondevik about the talk I had with the NATO Secretary General. You know that we are also pursuing this work with the Russia-NATO Council.