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The Danish PM also favours joint technical standards in the Region and more rapid transitions from research to product launch. "The Nordic countries should earmark significant sums of money for this purpose," said Rasmussen, who also wants more of the Nordic Council of Ministers' budget to be spent on globalisation initiatives of this type. "The whole investment should go under the brand name 'The green valley of Europe'," he said. The Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Halldór Ásgrímsson, welcomed Rasmussen's proposal to add to the globalisation initiatives previously proposed by the prime ministers. "There is room for new initiatives. We can do more. We need to publicise the results already achieved and make more out of the new investments in the transport sector. We should also push the Excellence in Research Initiative within the EU," the Secretary General said. Another participant in the Globalisation Forum, Kristina Persson who chairs the Nordic Association in Sweden, criticised the Nordic countries for not doing enough collectively for the climate. "National interests are always put before Nordic interests," she said. Persson called on the Nordic countries to nominate a single representative as a means of gaining access to G20 meetings. More on the forum: http://www.yourhost.is/globalisering2009 More on globalisation initiatives: http://www.norden.org/globalisering/sk/index.asp?lang=6 |
'The green valley of Europe'
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"The Region should act as a test market for green transport and build the green Nordic brand in the global energy sector," the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told the Nordic Globalisation Forum in Iceland on its second and final day. Rasmussen would like to see tangible projects emerge from the Forum right away and called on the ministers for Nordic co-operation to make a decision next week on the theme for future globalisation initiatives. He proposed, for example, that the Region should serve as a test market for climate-friendly solutions in the transport industry. |