The program will coordinate the services of all the various actors that work with public diplomacy and the promotion of Norwegian businesses aboard like the foreign ministry, Innovation Norway, the Norwegian Seafood Council and others.
“We want our profile abroad to be harmonized and coordinated”, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said when unveiling the new program at a meeting for all Norwegian ambassadors and station chiefs in Oslo earlier this autumn.
The Norwegian Consulate General in Murmansk is to a high degree taking part in the new program. Ole Andreas Lindeman, who took over the position as Consul General in Murmansk just recently, has said that he sees development of Norwegian-Russian business cooperation as one of his main tasks. The consulate is now in the process of hiring a new person to work with the “Team Norway” program.
Consul on business relations at the consulate in Murmansk Kristin Høiby says to Nordlys that there are large possibilities for Norwegian companies in Murmansk: “The market might be larger in Moscow, but here in Murmansk it is easier to make an impact”. She points to the fact that some Norwegian companies like Ølen Betong and Reinertsen have been working in the region for many years and have gained important experience on how to operate on the Russian market.
There are currently some 20 Norwegian companies established in Murmansk. Many of these are organized in the “Foreign Investments Business Association”, which is one of the members in a working group for implementation of the “Team Norway” program in Murmansk. Other members are Innovation Norway, the Norwegian Barents Secretariat and SIVA (Industrial Development Corporation of Norway).
“Team Norway” is inspired by Norway’s neighbouring country Finland’s “Team Finland” initiative, where three Ministries together with publicly funded bodies and Finnish offices abroad – including Finland’s diplomatic missions, the offices of Finpro and Tekes, and national culture and science institutes, are all operating under the ministries’ guidance.
