Mr Chairman,Co-Chair, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

Norway’s statement

RTM, Thimpu

11-12 December 2013

Mr Chairman,Co-chair, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

I am thrilled to be in Bhutan for the 12th Round Table Meeting. This is my first visit to Bhutan, but I can already see why my colleagues speak with so warm feelings about the country and the people.

At the outset, I am pleased to note that Bhutan has presented an ambitious and impressive five-year plan. I congratulate the Government of Bhutan on both its recent elections and its comprehensive plans for achieving sustainable economic growth over the years to come.

Norway is a longstanding friend and development partner of Bhutan, going back to the Norwegian missionaries’ work on leprosy in the 1970s. From that early starting point, our cooperation has developed and is now focused on energy and climate changeissues.

Norwayplaces an increasingly large emphasis on the importance of access to energy, development of renewable energy sources, and energy efficiency as central parts of our international cooperation. These efforts form the backbone of many of Norway’s initiatives on poverty reduction, sustainable development and climate change mitigation. We also believe that lack of energy access is a barrier to economic growth.

Our commitment to energy development was highlighted in October 2011, when Norway hosted an international conference on financing access to energy – a conference project I had the privilege of coordinating.This conference marked the launch of Norway’s International Energy and Climate Initiative, Energy+, which is in the process of being implemented here in Bhutan.

Mr. Chairman,

Bhutan has made impressive achievements in the energy sector. You have provided nearly all citizens with access to electricity and developed several large-scale hydropower projects to serve your goals.

I am also proud to note that for a long period we have supported your efforts to develop and harness your potential in the energy sector. As part of the ongoing cooperation between Norway and Bhutan,hydropower is an area where Norway has both competence and experience, developed over decades.

Our bilateral technical cooperation started in 1997and continued in 2001through the institutionalcooperation between the Norwegian Water Resource & Energy Directorate (NVE) and the Department of Energy.

A smaller part of our cooperation has been on the prevention of natural hazards like landslides, a cooperation between the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and the Department of Geology and Mines (DGM). This, of course, also ties in with the increased focus on climate change adaptation, and the new and increased threats arising from both climate change and land degradation.

I am happy to announce that the cooperation between NVE and the Department of Hydropower and Power Systems is in its fourth phase. Also in its fourth phase, the collaboration between NGI and DGM is focusing on managing geohazards in the hydropower sector. This ensures an even greater coherence with the larger NVE-DHPS project, just referred to. I would also like to inform you that the feasibility study for Bhutan’s first roadtunnel is under way as we speak, financed under the NGI-DGM project.

Mr. Chairman,

All these projects have been going on successfully for several years. I am very happy to announce that we are increasing our commitment substantially in the renewable energy sector in Bhutan in the years to come.

In February 2012, we signed the Energy+ framework document together with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Through the Energy+ cooperation we plan to support Bhutan’s efforts to increase access to sustainable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The expectation is that this framework could also serve as a model for cooperation between Energy+ partners in other countries in the region.

Mr Chairman,

We hope and believethat our cooperation has contributed to the development of Bhutan’s very important energy sector. We believe that the Energy+ partnership will contribute to Bhutan meeting its ambitions in a number of important sectors, including Bhutan’s efforts to achieve targets in the UN’s “Sustainable Energy for All” (SE4ALL) initiative, as well as Bhutan’s Five-year Development Plan and the implementation of the “National Strategy and Action Plan for Low Carbon Development.”

However, in order for all of us here to maximize the output of our efforts, it is important that Bhutan coordinates well with its partners, and that all partners keep each other well informed about their activities.

An open and transparent dialogue on our different activities is crucial for ensuring both good coordination and complementarity,be it by the Government of Bhutan, or by the international agencies whose job it is to coordinate multilateral activities.

Not only are we strongly in favour of energy access, but we are also depending on access to information.

In conclusion,let me add that we are a proud partner of Bhutan and that we are pleasedwith the results of the Royal Government’s impressive development efforts.

We are happy to announce that Norway plans to remain a committed partner in the comingyears.

Thank you.