 I think everybody has taken a great interest in Norway in the last year in particular and even before that and we are very interested here about the Norwegian mode of association with the European Union of course. We're interested to know about the border, we're interested to know about how the Brexit discussion is taking place in Norway if at all. Is it just ourselves that is obsessed with Brexit in all its forms? So the minister has engaged in an active and rising role within the Norwegian Conservative Party. The minister was elected to County Council in Oslo in 1997, the same year that you passed your international baccalaureate examinations I'm told here. Prodigy. She's also pursued an active degree in law serving as deputy judge to the Oslo District Court and as a lawyer for Wiesholm. The minister has further pursued her public service career in her services, state secretary into the office of the Prime Minister, Minister for Justice and Public Security and the Minister of European Affairs. Her most recent appointment is a current role to which she was appointed less than a month ago. So minister please look forward to your comments. Thank you very much. Distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, it's really an honor to be here. We take it as a compliment that you pay the interest to Norway to our views on Brexit and our relations with the European Union. We think that's a sign of the very strong commitment and strong bonds between Norway and Ireland. We are two small countries, open economies, a strong belief in the multilateral system in international cooperation. And so it's a pleasure to be here. And you asked me to talk about Norway's relationship with the European Union in the light of Brexit. And let me be clear from the start that Brexit will not change Norway's relationship with the European Union. We may have rejected membership in the European Union twice, but we have never rejected cooperation with Europe and the European Union. And as I will describe today, Norway cooperates closely with the European Union and its member states because we share a common set of values and because we need joint solution to the challenges, the global challenges that we see today. And we cooperate because it's in Norway's national interest to do so. And the British decision to leave the European Union will not change this foreign policy priority in Norway. But Brexit has of course put our relationship with the European Union squarely in the spotlight because the so-called Norwegian model makes now headlines on a regular basis, but not always with very great accuracy. So this is why today I can give you an outline on how our cooperation with the EU is organized and how it works before I move on to Norwegian interests in the Brexit process. And let me start by giving you some general thoughts on Norwegian European policy. Because our cooperation with EU is a fundamental part of my government's foreign policy. Historically, Norway has always been negatively affected by conflicts on the European continent. And so it is in our fundamental self-interest to contribute to a strong, prosperous, peaceful and united Europe. And no country, empire or alliance have made a better job in doing this than the European Union. And for that reason, a strong European Union is in Norway's interests. And from our standpoint, it is crucial that European governments work closely together to meet the common challenges that we see today, such as climate change, migration, unemployment and violent extremism. And issues such as this can not be solved by one country alone. On the contrary, the solutions to many of these challenges are European. And Norway will play a part and will continue to do so. And as politicians, we may not always like all decisions coming from Brussels. But I think in today's world, it's our obligation and duty to stand up and defend the effects and positive effects of European cooperation and explain what it means for citizens of Europe in their daily life. Because the alternative to a strong and united Europe will be a weak and divided Europe. And I think countries like Ireland and Norway understand this and can tell this story together. So, EEA countries, how is Norway's European cooperation organized? The EEA agreement or the agreement on the European economic area, that's the full name, forms the cornerstone or our relationship with the EU. And in addition, there are about 70 other agreements that help regulate the different aspects of the wide-ranging relations between Norway and the European Union, including also the Schengen agreement. And interest in the EEA has increased markedly since Britain's vote to leave the European Union. And the EEA has become an important point of reference in the debate about the future relationship between UK and the EU. But still, we often see that there are misconceptions as to how it works and the right and obligation it entails. I'm not going to give you the full lecture on the EEA agreement on all the technical parts, but just a few basic points. The basic idea of the European economic area was launched in 1989 by the former president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, to extend the emerging single market to the seven EFTA countries. And the EFTA countries swiftly responded favorably, and the EEA was signed in 1992, and it entered into force 1st of January 1994. But later that same year, three of these three EEA countries, Austria, Sweden and Finland decided to join the European Union. So the countries left, the green countries on the map, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein chose to remain in the EEA, and therefore also in the single market, but not to join the European Union. Switzerland also had their referendum, but they narrowly rejected the EEA in their referendum in December 1992. So basic principles, the first article of the EEA agreement states that the aim of the agreement is to create a homogeneous European economic area. And the key word here is of course homogeneous, which means that there can be, to have a common market, you need common rules on free movement of good services, capital and persons, as well as competition and state aid. And it also means that the EEA agreement is dynamic. It is continuously updated with new regulations, precisely in order to ensure that the rules of the single market are the same across the whole of the EEA. And this makes it fundamentally different from all types of free trade agreement, which focuses on tariffs, on improved access to each other's markets, because the EEA agreement instead gives all the 31 participating countries a 31-country home market. So it's completely different from a free trade agreement. And it's dynamic, that means that new EU regulation will be implemented into Norwegian law at some point. We also participate in different EU programmes, such as Erasmus Plus, Horizon 2020 and Galileo. And for these programmes, our financial contribution is calculated in the same way as for EU member states. EU rules do not have direct effect in Norway, since we are not EU members, but must be incorporated into the EEA agreement by the way of separate decisions in the joint EEA committee consisting of the EU and the EEA AFTA countries. And this brings me to one important point, which is called the two-pillar structure. It means that the EEA countries and the EU countries has separate enforcement and dispute resolution mechanisms. So we have the EFTA surveillance authority, the EU has the commission, and we have the EFTA court and the EU have their European Court of Justice. And this is crucial to ensure a level playing field across the EEA and legal certainty for economic operators and individual citizens. And the aim is, of course, to ensure that EU rules is applied in the same way in the EU market and in Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. We are not fully members. There are a lot of exceptions with regards to... We don't cooperate fully with the European Union. We don't... The EEA agreement do not include the common agriculture policy or the common fisheries policy. But importantly, though, the EEA does include EU food safety, veterinary and photosanitary rules and standards. And this allows for very smooth import and export of both fish and agriculture products. And this is important to us. No one is more in a hurry than dead fish. And it's therefore critical that our exports of fresh fish are able to reach EU shops without being unduly held up by the... At the border. And the EEA does not comprise the customs union, but there is total tariff free trade with the EU, except for fish and agriculture products. Being outside the customs union means that we are free to negotiate trade agreements with countries outside the EU, EEA, ourselves. And we usually do this together with the other EFTA countries, including Switzerland, which is not part of the EEA. The EEA agreement does not cover justice and home affairs. But NOVA is part of Schengen through an association agreement, which implies passport free travel within Schengen and common control of external borders. For NOVA, it was imperative to join Schengen because we had already this passport free zone with Sweden and Finland. So when Sweden and Finland became members of the Schengen agreement, we needed to also join Schengen in order to preserve that system at our border. And last but not by no means least, NOVA contributes also financially to the economic and social cohesion in Europe through the EEA and Norway grants, not through the budget, but through a separate grant scheme that is called EEA and the Norwegian grants. This money, 2.8 billion euros for the period now 2014 to 2021. And these grants are spent on a wide range of products in the 15 poorest EU member states with the aim of reducing social and economic inequality in Europe and to strengthen contact and cooperation. For instance, Norwegian EEA grants have been given to the asylum system in Greece in order to improve the quality of the asylum system in Greece at a very crucial point in 2015 in particular. So we see that these grants can both meet long-term needs but also respond to quite, I mean, to a situation that emerges in certain countries. So moving on to Brexit, so and then to reiterate one important point, Norway's relationship with the European Union is not in itself directly affected by the British vote to leave. And the EEA agreement provides a stable and predictable framework for Norway's economic relations with European Union member states to the benefit of businesses, consumers and citizens in general. And that will continue to be the case even though there will be one country less on the EU side. The United Kingdom and Norway enjoy long-standing and wide-ranging cooperation. And I'm confident that also after Brexit, UK will remain one of Norway's closest partners and allies. And our relationship with UK is to a very considerable extent regulated through the EEA agreement and many other agreements with the European Union, which means that once Britain leaves the European Union, we will need a new set of agreements to regulate our relationship with the UK. And our objective in these negotiations will be to maintain a close and extensive cooperation as possible between our two countries after Britain withdraw from the Union. We also share the priority of preserving the integrity of the single market to the benefit of the citizens and businesses in the 30 states, the 27 EU countries and the three EFTA states, remaining in the European economic area after the UK's withdrawal. And in that context, Norway and the other EEA states, Iceland and the UK and the UK agree on withdrawal terms relevant to the single market, for instance, regarding acquired rights of citizens. We need to find ways to extend these provisions to all EEE states and citizens. And likewise, any transitional arrangement that extends the application of the single market to the EU and the EU and the EU and the EU transitional arrangement that extends the application of the single market in the UK for a time limited period after withdrawal should also include the EEA states. Otherwise, we risk having a fragmented solution within the framework of the single market and will, of course, be a great problem for Norway if we're not included in the arrangements made between the EU and the UK regarding the single market. So consequently, to preserve the integrity of the single market, the EU 27, the UK and the EFTA 3 should agree on legal arrangements which can enter into force at the same time as the withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK. But we're not negotiating. We have to go to Brussels and present our message in other ways than at the negotiation table. I made these points to the chief negotiator in the EU, Michel Barnier, last week. And his response was that the well functioning European economic area post Brexit is also important for the European Union. And there is a close dialogue with the EA countries to ensure this. And on the future of the EEA, after the British referendum, there are those in Norway who would like to follow the British example and replace the EEA agreement with the loser free trade agreement with the European Union. And their reasoning is that it should be possible to maintain access to the EU market taking back control over matters which are currently decided within the framework of the EEA. And it is true that it would be possible to retain access to the single market without the EEA agreement if the product you want to sell there complies with the single market rules and standards. But what the EEA agreement does is to give us participation in the internal market. And that is something quite different. It means that we share the same regulatory framework so that the entire single market of a half a billion people, it's actually our own home market, not just for goods, but also for services and no free trade agreement can equal that or replace that. And it's, as we all know, it doesn't end there, the EEA agreement, it's not only about establishing a large home market for business, it's also about opportunities and rights for ordinary citizens. An entire Norwegian generation have grown up with the opportunity to study, to work and to live in all 31 countries in the European economic area. Our qualification are recognized and we also have the right to health care and the social security benefits across the area. And these are rights that Norwegians and I guess most Europeans today take for granted because they have been there. But without the EEA agreement, those rights would not have been the same. And if we want to maintain a high level of consensus in favor of the EEA, we need to emphasize and focus and talk about these benefits, not only to business, but also to people in general, especially to the young generation who have the opportunities their parents could only dream of and opportunities they now take for granted. But we know there has been a long way before we are coming to where we are today. The EEA agreement is the most comprehensive and wide reaching international agreement that Norway has ever entered into. It is not perfect. But it makes us part of the single market and it guarantees important rights to each and every one of us. Brexit has given the EEA agreement more front page coverage than it has had ever since it was signed in 1992 and we voted to not join the European Union in 1994. And it is, of course, a focus that gives us the opportunity to explain both at home to Norwegians and abroad here in Ireland today what it is about and how we organize our participation in the European integration. It is perhaps a bit ironic that it is because of one country leaving the European Union that this focus is now on us. We have a lot to say about it. But what it highlights is how strongly Norway is integrated into the European cooperation structures. And probably a side effect of Brexit is that also our businesses, our citizens become more aware of the importance of our participation in the single market. It is a construction that is fundamental to Norwegian welfare and to our economy. So it is a construction that must be protected and preserved both now and also after the UK's withdrawal from the single market. And I guess I will get some questions as to what I think about what will happen in Brexit. We have to get back to that. But so far it has been stated quite clearly from the UK government that this is not a model that that UK foresee for their future relationship with the European Union. But it serves Norway's interests well, and it protects our economy, jobs and welfare.