President to talk arctic and the UN on official Norway visit Friday
President Kersti Kaljulaid is to visit Norway Friday, with Estonia's bid to accede to the Arctic Council, security policy and Norway's joining Estonia on the UN Security Council (UNSC) next year.
The president will have an audience with King Harald and a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Erna Solberg, followed by a press conference, Norway's embassy in Tallinn announced Thursday (link in Norwegian).
President Kaljulaid will next meet with Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen, President of the Norwegian parliament, the Storting. She will also meet Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide over a working lunch, and her visit will conclude with meetings in OsloMet and Fridtjof Nansen Institute with discussions on digitalization and Arctic.
The ongoing battle with COVID-19, UN Security Council cooperation (Norway becomes a non-permanent member for two years from 2021, the second year of Estonia's current stint - ed.), digital issues, trade and security will all be covered, as well as arctic issues.
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum comprising countries with territory bisected by the Arctic Circle, namely: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S. (via Alaska).
There are in addition over a dozen European and Asian observer status nations. Estonia officially applied for membership earlier this month.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
