"Wish the Chinese people a happier life!" Jorgen Kosmo, the president of the Norwegian Parliament, extended his heartfelt blessing as he was interviewed by the People' Daily correspondent Zhang Lei. Norway is one of the earliest Western countries that extended its recognition to the People's Republic of China. This year is the 50th anniversary of the official establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Norway. At the invitation of Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of National People's Congress (NPC), President Kosmo leads a delegation of Norwegian parliament to visit China.

Mr. Kosmo expressed his satisfaction with the development of the bilateral ties between Norway and China in the past 50 years. The Norwegian-China relations have been improving. In the past five to six years, in particular, the bilateral ties have kept deepening, high-level visits are frequent and contacts and cooperation in various fields are furthering, said he. Kosmo summed up the bilateral ties in three aspects: First, inter-governmental dialog and cooperation. Despite difference in their political systems, so long as the two countries act on the principle of "seeking common grounds while reserving differences" and carry out inter-governmental dialog and consultation, they will certainly iron out differences and enhance trust and understanding. For instance, the two governments have conducted dialogs on human rights in recent years. Mr. Kosmo spoke highly of the great improvement in the situation of human rights in China over the past 20 years. Second, exchange and cooperation between the two parliaments, including exchange of opinions on domestic and international questions of common concerns, such as world peace and security, and international financial market order. Third, good economic relations. The two countries have forged close relations in industry, finance, insurance and investment. Cooperation between the two sides in these aspects proves fruitful. In 2003 the bilateral trade volume hit US$1.76 bln. China has become Norway's largest trade partner in Asia. Kosmo encourages Norwegian entrepreneurs to invest and seek development opportunities in China. He also expresses the hopes that cooperation in the above three aspects will continue in the future.

When asked about scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries, Mr. Kosmo showed great interest in environmental protection projects. Norway is one of the countries that lead the world in environmental protection technology, it has been cited as a "most suitable living place for human beings" for three consecutive years by the UN. President Kosmo has rich experience in environmental protection and sustainable development. He shows great concern with the present state of environmental pollution in the world. He said that the Norwegian scientists monitored and found that atmospheric pollution in Europe, Asia and America is rather serious, while the discharge of waste gas from fired coal is one of the important reasons for climatic change. How to use energy rationally and develop new pollution-free energy source has become an important question in today's world. Kosmo emphasized that developing new pollution-free energy is especially important for China since its economy is developing rapidly and its demand for energy will grow by a big margin accordingly. Norway can provide China with experience and technology to help it develop the economy steadily and continually and take the road leading it to prosperity with the least damage to the environment. Joint research on environmental protection is an extremely important field in Norwegian-China cooperation. The two countries have set up research organs; scientists from both sides are having regular meetings to discuss the climatic problems brought by environmental pollution. Governmental support is being sought for research work, which will become a solid foundation for future research on environmental protection.

In addition to cooperation in environmental protection, China and Norway maintain close contacts in the realms of culture, education, public health, etc. For example, in the field of education, many Chinese students go to Norway for study every year; and more and more Norwegian students come to China for advanced study as well. In the opinion of President Kosmo, education is the fundamentals and hope of a country. Norway has established a scholarship in the Yunnan University of Nationalities for minority ethnic students in support of China's educational undertaking. The Norwegian government is considering establishing a Norwegian language specialty in China's universities.

By People's Daily Online