UK seeks closer cooperation with Nordic states

Britain and Norway signed a partnership agreement on Wednesday as part of a two-day summit bringing together leaders from nine countries in the Nordic and Baltic regions. They discussed cooperation in areas such as innovation and green growth.

The summit was seen as a UK attempt to form a political alliance of northern European countries in the EU. British leader David Cameron pointed out that these countries had a lot in common and were already cooperating in a number of areas.

A series of presentations were made by companies to show experiences gained on energy efficiency, wind power, smart grids and green transportation. The objective was to share best practices for strengthening growth and improving wellbeing, and perhaps more crucially to find new markets for these countries.

"The Nordic countries are in many respects regarded as model societies," said Finnish prime minister Mari Kiviniemi. "Now we have an opportunity to explain what this model means in practice. Finland can offer a lot in areas such as the environment."

The UK and Norwegian governments agreed to foster their cooperation on oil and gas exploration, offshore wind power, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and marine environment protection. They will also promote CCS deployment internationally, and work to ensure the delivery of an EU-China carbon capture project http://www.endseurope.com/21655?referrer=bulletin&DCMP=EMC-ENDS-EUROPE-DAILY.

On Thursday, British prime minister David Cameron said that energy ministers in countries taking part in the North Sea Offshore Grid initiative http://www.endseurope.com/23251?referrer=bulletin&DCMP=EMC-ENDS-EUROPE-DAILY would meet with their Baltic colleagues to learn from their energy market interconnection plan. A progress report will be presented in June ahead of a meeting later this year.

Wind power is a source of growth and job creation for these countries. On Thursday, company Siemens announced it had signed a deal with Associated British Ports (ABP) to build a new offshore wind turbine manufacturing and export facility in the northeast of the UK. Britain wants to become a major manufacturing country.

Follow-up: UK-Norway agreement

http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-and-articles/2011/01/norway-and-the-united-kingdom-%E2%80%93-a-bilateral-and-global-partnership-58997

plus UK-Baltic-Nordic summit http://uknordicbaltic.readandcomment.com/,

Finnish press release http://www.vn.fi/ajankohtaista/tiedotteet/tiedote/fi.jsp?oid=312995,

Siemens statement

http://www.siemens.co.uk/en/news_press/index/news_archive/siemens-selects-abp-as-preferred-bidder-for-uk-wind-turbine-factory.htm 

and UK government press release on North Sea grid http://www.endseurope.com/docs/110120a.doc.

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