King Harald V Opens Norwegian Parliament
The King of Norway opened the 2009-2010 session of Parliament Friday with a speech from the throne. The speech outlined the government’s plans for the country, in the midst of a economic downturn.
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With his wife, Queen Sonja, by his right hand, and his son and heir, Crown Prince Haakon, at his left, King Harald V said to Norway’s politicians:
“Over the past year the world economy experienced the most powerful recession since World War II. Many countries have experienced sharply increasing unemployment and fall in production. Land of our closeness, as Iceland and the Baltic countries, has been particularly hard hit. The world economy contributed to the clearly lower growth in the Norwegian mainland economy last year. Rebound increase in force throughout the fall and led eventually to a marked increase in the number of unemployed.”
“To help reduce the impact of employment and unemployment Government conducted early this year comprehensive fiscal measures. In addition, it was from last fall initiated a series of measures to improve the situation in money.”
The King went on to talk about the state of Norway’s money, banks and employment rates. He also discussed how his country is a driving force in fighting poverty and improving health for those in Third World countries.
“Vaccination of children in the poorest countries is one of the main priority. The government has extended this commitment to include maternal health. Norway is now a driving force internationally to ensure that when a UN Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health.”
Norway is one of the NATO countries that has troops in Afghanistan. King Harald touched on that issue in his speech.
“Afghanistan is still the most important target area for the Norwegian military and civilian participation in international operations. The military effort is continued at a high level, and is increasingly oriented towards training and supporting Afghan security forces. The civilian effort has been the stairs up considerably, in line with Norway’s view that no country can be stabilized by military means alone.”
Also mentioned was Norway’s steps towards allowing paternity leave for fathers, child welfare cases, and one of the country’s biggest industries, oil.
The King’s speech also spoke of the Norwegian foreign policy with Somalia, Zimbabwe and the Mideast peace process.
As the speech came to a close, King Harald returned to the subject of the economy, which is on the minds of every Norwegian, as it is elsewhere in the world.
On October 22nd, there were a dinner for the members of Parliament given by King Harald and Queen Sonja.
