Federal Foreign Office State Secretary Dr Harald Braun and his Norwegian counterpart, Torgeir Larsen, are to open the first German-Norwegian workshop on the topic of “Cooperation in the Arctic” at the Federal Foreign Office tomorrow, 21 March.

During Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle’s visit to Norway in August 2012, he and his Norwegian counterpart at the time, Jonas Gahr Störe, had agreed to hold the workshop. The conference aims at further strengthening bilateral cooperation in the Artic region.

In four consecutive panel discussions, high-level representatives from politics, science, business and NGOs will discuss current issues in political cooperation in the Arctic region, Arctic research, the extraction of raw materials, climate and environmental policy and shipping.