Tusen takk, for deres varme velkomst. (translation: A thousand thanks for your warm welcome)

I am very happy to be in Oslo and I am also looking forward to my visit to the North Pole. I appreciate such a strong support from the Norwegian Government and people for the major goals of the United Nations.

Norway is by any standards one of the strongest and best partners of the United Nations in term of peace and security. Its contribution and leadership and initiatives on issues such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Afghanistan and Sudan have been greatly appreciated.

In term of development contributions, by any standard, Norway is the number one contributor, a generous contributor, in terms of its per capita contribution. Norway has been a champion in promoting and protecting human rights worldwide. This is exactly what we need at a time when the whole international community is facing multiple crises: pandemic crisis, food crisis, energy crisis, economic crisis. And on top of all these crises, we are compounded by the most serious existential threat of climate change.

I appreciate and commend the role of the Norwegian Government through their REDD initiative [United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries] and active participation and leadership in addressing climate change. I am very happy and very encouraged by what I have discussed this morning with my dear friend and colleague, Foreign Minister Store. I count on your continuing initiative and leadership. I am going to have a meeting with Prime Minister [Jens] Stoltenberg, who has also taken great leadership as a co–Chair of the System-wide Coherence High-Level Panel in the UN, and I am looking forward to welcoming him to the United Nations Summit Meeting on Climate Change. Thank you very much.