| Norway offers visas in exchange for fish The Norwegian voyage of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov began with a gas presentation and, in fact, ended with it. After intergovernmental negotiations that took place yesterday in Oslo, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said that his cabinet is ready to do everything possible to include the Norwegian gas concerns Norsk Hydro and Stat Oil among the participants in the project to develop the Shtokman gas field.
Mr. Stoltenberg said so directly: “We showed everything to Mr. Fradkov in the sense of the development of our high technologies in the field of gas production. We did this to prove to our Russian colleague the principled participation of Norwegian companies in the development of Shtokman. The Russian prime minister diplomatically responded that the Russian government does not interfere in Gazprom's corporate choices. Indeed, here the Norwegians would rather use First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who heads the board of directors of Gazprom, as a negotiator.
Although Mikhail Fradkov welcomed the desire of the Norwegians to participate in serious joint projects. He said that in addition to Shtokman, he sees other opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the field of oil and gas construction. For example, when developing shelf areas in the Barents Sea, which, however, have not yet been demarcated. Mr. Fradkov suggested “looking as far ahead as possible.” However, answering a question from journalists about the timing of signing the demarcation agreement, he did not say anything specific.
In turn, Jens Stoltenberg particularly focused on the problems of exporting Norwegian salmon to Russia. Russia has banned the import of Norwegian salmon under the pretext of its high cadmium content. The Prime Minister of Norway promised that the ban would be lifted in the near future, since Russian specialists had already arrived in Oslo and they would have access to Norwegian enterprises producing salmon. “I am in favor of lifting this ban,” Mr. Stoltenberg said sternly. And in return, he promised to make it easier for Russian citizens to obtain visas to enter Norway. At the same time, he singled out journalists as a special privileged caste, which, of course, flattered them. Since Russian diplomats, concluding agreements with the European Union on a simplified regime for obtaining visas for officials working in culture and science, have always believed that journalists are unworthy to be in this row.
Mikhail Fradkov, summing up the results of his visit to Oslo, noted that our countries are able not only to cooperate well, but also to find compromises, resolving complex problems. He promised the Norwegians that all this would eventually result “in a series of major projects.” Perhaps the Russian prime minister also had in mind the development of the Shtokman field, so desired by the Norwegian side.
Speaking about the Norwegian Stabilization Fund, Mr. Fradkov reported to reporters that he asked his colleagues about its structure in detail during his current visit. (However, on January 1, 2006, the Norwegian stabilization fund became a state pension fund, combining two: insurance and oil funds.) Despite the excellent Norwegian experience, the Russian prime minister said that it makes no sense to completely copy it.
As for the management of the Russian stabilization fund, the government has not yet made a final decision (more on this on page 4) . Mr. Fradkov only noted that this decision would be “balanced and careful.” “Although we do not deprive ourselves of the opportunity to use petroleum products following the example of the Norwegians. Those. not only as pension savings, but also by investing in shares of foreign companies,” explained the Russian Prime Minister. “But there are features here that we will have to take into account.” Vera KUZNETSOVA, Oslo |
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