The good aspects can be improved. Nordic energy co-operation is unique in the world and has a 100-year history. The region is often held up as a role model but the current energy crisis has shown that we are vulnerable, too. We need to work more closely and better together, according to a new report presented at the Nordic Council Theme Session in Reykjavík.
Maria Gratschew will be the new director of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ office in Estonia and will continue the work of supporting and developing Nordic and Estonian co-operation.
The President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, will take part in the Nordic Council Theme Session in Reykjavík on 15 March. His address to the assembled parliamentarians will kick off a plenary debate on a new action plan for Nordic co-operation 2025–2030.
The Nordic Green Bank is currently supporting more than 20 projects on the ground to improve living conditions for the people of Ukraine. “The Nordic countries have both the know-how and ability to support Ukraine in building back greener and better,” says Trond Moe, Managing Director of Nefco.
According to a UN study, digital violence affects one in three women in the world. The Nordic Region is no exception, but the difference is that the Nordic countries are reacting more and more quickly by way of political countermeasures. At this year’s UN gender equality summit, CSW67, the Nordic ministers for gender equality and experts are discussing how society can stand up for gender equality online.
That was the conclusion of Danish Sustainability Week in Copenhagen, where the Nordic Council of Ministers hosted three debates. Although the Nordic countries have come the furthest in the world in terms of achieving the SDGs, things are worse when it comes to the four green SDGs, both in the Nordics and worldwide. Nordic consumption has a huge environmental and climate footprint in other parts of the world. The Nordic Council of Ministers is working to turn this around and make the Nordic Region the most sustainable region in the world.
Freedom of movement in the Nordic Region must be further prioritised. That’s how Siv Friðleifsdóttir sees it, who’s chairing the Nordic Freedom of Movement Council this year. Though she can see several challenges, she’s optimistic at the end of the day.
It’s been a year since the war in Ukraine started. To mark the occasion the Nordic Council of Ministers is giving a voice to ordinary women who live in the Nordic and Baltic countries, but who come from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. What they have in common is that they’re all affected by the war and, in their own way, they’re trying to bring about peace.