 Now to give us some context for our discussions today it's my pleasure to welcome permanent Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Iceland, Mr. Sturla Sigurjansson. Well Minister, colleagues, other distinguished participants, it's a great pleasure to be here in Dublin. Ireland is close to us Icelanders, even closer than many realize, apart from the geographic proximity and frequently sitting next to each other in multilateral fora and alphabetical order. It has recently been scientifically confirmed by mapping the DNA of some of the settlers who came to Iceland more than 1,000 years ago that they were almost evenly of Norse and Gaelic ancestry. This is also reflected in the names of people and places in Iceland and of course the literary heritage. But turning to the topic of the day, allow me to start by saying a few words on Iceland's various multilateral responsibilities during 2019. This has been a busy year for us as we have had the honour to chair the Arctic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Nordic Foreign Ministers Cooperation as well as the Mb8 Cooperation. In addition, a short term in the Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council is coming to an end in December. Allow me to start in reverse order and reflect a bit on the Nordic Baltic Cooperation between the five Nordic countries and the three Baltic states. The Mb8 Cooperation started shortly after the end of the Cold War in the early 90s when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regained their independence from the former Soviet Union. These were dramatic days, weeks and months following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the redrawing of the map of Europe and reshaping of the World Order. The Baltic states sought close cooperation with the West, both in order to reiterate their European identity, declare themselves as democracies and free market economies, but also as a means to achieve economic and social progress. For the Nordic countries, the Baltic states were natural partners, close neighbours with centuries of shared history, which had been unnaturally shut off for decades and now, 30 years ago, the door was open. Different fora for cooperation emerged in Europe, including regional bodies. In Northern Europe, these were, for example, the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council Ministers. They had, of course, existed for decades and they were there at the time. But additionally, we saw the establishment of the Council of Baltic Sea States, the Barents Sea Council, the EU's Northern Dimension and the Mb8 Forum. The Mb8 Cooperation has two distinctive features. First, it has a relatively wide ranging scope, meaning that these eight countries cooperate as Mb8 when it is considered practical and mutually beneficial. Therefore, the Mb8 Cooperation now includes different areas, such as digitalisation, cybersecurity, and cooperation on human rights within international organisations. Secondly, the cooperation is quite flexible, sometimes even organic, but at the same time demanding, meaning that if the topic at any given time does not provide added value for the group, it is simply allowed to fade away. The Mb8 does not rely on a secretariat and instead the countries rotate the role of coordinator and the country concerned organises meetings and up to a point sets the agenda. Accordingly, Iceland put forward three strategic priorities. I'm not sure you can see them on the screen there, but I'll cover them. And we did this for the Mb8 chairmanship in a paper which applied to this year. And this focuses on continued security cooperation, including cyber security, the importance of human rights, not least in the work of the Human Rights Council, where Iceland has had a high seat. And finally, ocean affairs, where we have underlined the importance of preserving our oceans, securing sustainable use of marine resources, and not least, establishing the link between global climate change and ocean affairs. After all, oceans do cover over 70% of the earth and their wellbeing is crucial to all climate action. This year we have had two ministerial meetings, the first in the Mb8 v4 format, together with the so-called Visigrad countries, and the second as Mb8 in Iceland a little more than a month ago. In addition to the meetings of foreign ministers and defence ministers, my colleagues, the permanent secretaries of the foreign ministries met in Iceland in March. The political directors have met as well and are experts on human rights, UN affairs, women peace and security, Asia, Africa, arms control, and many others. So as you can hear, it covers wide scope. So, and a wide range of issues. And I might add that this cooperation is policy oriented, meaning that we exchange information, knowledge, and expertise, which often leads to or consolidates our like-minded approach on various issues. It can result in joint statements, common initiatives or concrete action, such as, for example, embassy cooperation in third countries, but it doesn't have to. The dialogue between us maintaining the link within the Mb8 group has great value in itself. Turning to, I would just briefly like to talk about the Nordic cooperation as well. This has deep political and historical roots, but it has always been intentionally kept informal. The cooperation has evolved into being so integral to everything we do that it has become almost an element in our foreign policy DNA, so to speak. The Nordic countries cooperate and consult effortlessly, both formally and informally. The foreign ministers meet formally three to four times a year. And as a case in point, I can mention that they met last week in Berlin. The photo there was taken on that occasion. And they are meeting next week in Stockholm. On top of that, they meet one-on-one quite regularly and call and text each other all the time. So N5 cooperation is close. Again, it does not run on projects and primarily focuses on foreign policy consultations and cooperation. Top down as well as bottom up. But although this is primarily policy cooperation, we also have various examples of how this cooperation has led to concrete results. I just mentioned Berlin. But we have a good example of how the Nordic countries, foreign services cooperate very closely in the Nordic embassy compound in Berlin, with the effect that we are stronger together in Germany. The results of the cooperation are indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Another good example is the 2009 so-called Stoltenberg report, named after the author, the late Norwegian statesman Torval Stoltenberg. Many of you may recognize him as the father of the current Secretary General of NATO. Back then, he was tasked to come up with proposals for closer Nordic cooperation on foreign and security matters. And he delivered on that promise. Now, 10 years on, many of his 13 proposals, which again, if you have your glasses on, you might be able to read on the screen there. They have, in fact, in some cases, led to much closer Nordic cooperation, not least in the security context in what we call Nordefgo. And it's not a secret that the foreign ministers on the initiative of Iceland are currently exploring the possibility of launching a further process similar to Stoltenberg, which would produce new ideas and proposals for closer Nordic cooperation. A lot has changed internationally in the last 10 years. New variables have emerged, and these changes have a substantial effect on our foreign policy and security environment. And this includes, of course, global climate change, hybrid and cyber threats, and increasing strains on multilateralism and the rule based international order. I'd also like to say a few words on the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Arctic Council. But these formats are similar, but different. Now, let me start with the Nordic Council of Ministers. It's the Nordic Five, but also the regions, the Allland Islands, the Faroe Islands in Greenland. The Nordic Council of Ministers is a forum for regional cooperation excluding foreign ministers, and including more or less all other ministerial cooperation in areas ranging from culture and education, social health and welfare, innovation, digitalization and gender. The Nordic Council of Ministers is supported by a secretariat based in Copenhagen, consisting of up to 100 senior advisors on different topics, and it has an annual budget of roughly 128 million euros. These funds support a variety of joint Nordic projects, Nordic research, Nordic innovation, cultural exchange, education and language. In our chairmanship, Iceland has put emphasis on the youth, sustainable tourism in the North and ocean affairs, but by far the biggest task during our chair has been brokering a new vision for the Nordic Council of Ministers. And this we succeeded in doing last August when the Nordic Prime Ministers endorsed a document called Our Vision 2030, which has climate action at its core and aims at making the Nordics the most sustainable and integrated region. Finally, and politically perhaps most visible today, the Arctic Council. This I say because in this forum we have three other countries at the table in addition to the Nordics, the US, Russia and Canada. Many permanent participants, mainly representatives of indigenous peoples and a large number of observers follow closely what happens in the Council. The Arctic Council is the main forum for international cooperation on Arctic issues, all its members focus on peace and stability in the region, environmental protection and sustainable economic development. One of the key challenges we face in the Arctic is maintaining the balance between environmental protection and economic development. Iceland continues to stress the importance of the Arctic that the Arctic remains a region of peace, stability and constructive cooperation. And this has fortunately so far been the case. Despite tension and divergence in international politics, the Arctic offers an example of how both large and small nations can work together within these defined parameters. Various projects serve as confidence building measures. Others are linked to our chairmanship programs such as combating plastic pollution in the Arctic Ocean, gender equality and the blue bioeconomy, meteorological cooperation and sustainable economic development to mention only a few examples. As I said before, Arctic cooperation is increasingly important because it provides assemblance of governance on the basis of the enclose and promotes communication and cooperation in a volatile region. A changing climate and the resulting opening up of sea routes, easier access to natural resources and possible security threats, resulting from increased traffic in the area, poses new challenges and makes it increasingly important to ensure that the Arctic remains a low tension area. And this is best done through multilateral collaboration and dialogue. The geostrategic situation in the region has changed and this reality is also reflected in the Arctic Council's international status and the attention that the work of the Council enjoys. Dear guests, I have briefly described Iceland's chairmanship in different formats, MB8 and five Nordic Council ministers and the Arctic Council. And all of this runs in parallel to our formal participation in a great number of other international organizations where in many cases we work closely together with Ireland, with which we share fundamental values and frequently interests. And this raises the question of whether the MB8 and Ireland could somehow connect at the policymaking level. There are examples of the MB8 format being used to strengthen ties with other countries. I've already mentioned the Visigrad countries, but I might add that the United Kingdom has also been lately working closely with this group. The so-called Northern Future Forum is held annually with the participation of the MB8 and the UK Prime Ministers, allowing them to focus on a specific subject at each meeting. But also creating opportunities for closer networking. A third example is the possible Nordic German corporation, which is an idea that was launched during Chancellor Merkel's visit to Reykjavík last August, where she met with Nordic Prime Ministers and this photo was taken on that occasion. But here, substance is the key. If it makes sense for the MB8 countries to meet with other countries in this format and vice versa, and if it is good use of our ministers precious time, we are generally positive. And given Ireland's numerous strengths in multiple areas, innovation, digitalization, new climate solutions, just to name a few, as well as the fact that Ireland and the MB8 countries are like-minded on most issues, I'm confident that the potential is definitely there. In a rapidly changing world, characterized by uncertainties, complexities and also challenges to rules, norms and values that have so far been taken for granted, there is a need for more international and regional cooperation. This is also and perhaps more than ever true for us who share these values and want to safeguard the rule-based international order. Thank you for your attention.