Ambassador White's remarks at the Norwegian Evening Dinner - NACC, Huston

River Oaks Country Club, Huston, May 5, 2010

Good evening

Ladies and gentlemen,
My name is Barry White.  

I would like to thank the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and particularly President John C. Welch III and Executive Director Anne-Brith Berge for organizing this Norwegian Evening Dinner and giving me the opportunity to speak with you.

I want to introduce Vidar Keyn, our Foreign Commercial officer in Oslo.  He is the person to contact for business assistance.

You all have a critical role to play in our bilateral relationship, and I look forward to sharing some ideas and discussing how we together can facilitate an even greater exchange in the future.

I have been in Norway for exactly six months today, so I don't quite know everything yet, but the beauty of being a relatively new ambassador is that it allows me to have an opinion about everything.
My wife, Eleanor, and I are very excited about our new life in Oslo.  People have been extraordinarily welcoming.

I am very honored and privileged to be the personal representative of President Barack Obama and of the United States to the Kingdom of Norway.  I believe that President Obama has already proven that he will be a transformative president for the United States.  He has changed the policy and the image of the U.S. abroad and has given hope to the world that nations can work together to solve some of our most difficult problems such as nuclear proliferation, global climate change and economic and financial stability around the world.

I would like to add a word about the very significant agreement between Norway and Russia.  This is exciting for Norway, as it settles a 40-year dispute peacefully but, it also indicates that Russia may be prepared to negotiate other agreements with the West.  After the Start Treaty the reset with Russia may be working.  We shall see.

Norwegians, in particular, got a good feel for President Obama when he visited Norway in December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  That was quite a beginning to my Ambassadorship.  I still remember the call I received at 5:45 a.m. on October 9, 2009 in D.C. from my Chargé telling me that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.  My reaction was “Oh, ----“ because I knew how much work this would take and that my Ambassadorship may have reached its peak in its first month.

First, let me give you a little background about myself.  I practiced law at a large law firm in Boston for 40 years.  My practice focused on business development and transactions both domestic and international.  I worked extensively with entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists and international companies.  

I also served as the managing partner of the firm of 250 lawyers for 13 years and served as Chair of Lex Mundi, an association of independent law firms around the world.

I have worked on numerous political campaigns.  I draw on these experiences to do the best job I can in my role as Ambassador.

I have experienced the breadth of U.S. business and its success in the international marketplace, underscoring the importance of continuing efforts to expand global business and trade.

But most relevant for your purposes perhaps, is that I represented the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and served on its Executive Committee for many years.  I believe I have some knowledge of how businesses think and how to get things done. I have already worked closely with Jason Turflinger and the American Chamber of Commerce in Norway and visited with other chambers including the Chamber in Stavanger.

I would like to say a few words about the close ties between Norway and the U.S. – and touch on some of the business opportunities that I see in the energy sector and beyond.

America's historical ties with Norway run deep, from the waves of Norwegian immigrants who left Stavanger in 1825 to our sixty years as NATO allies.  We share a cultural past and we share goals for the future.

Both of our countries are dedicated to engagement and dialogue to secure peace and well-being throughout the world.  Norway and the United States have a close military relationship - bilaterally and through NATO.  I viewed this up close with a flight on a Norwegian Air Force F-16 with a Norwegian Air Force pilot.  What a great experience!  We both advocate a leading role for the UN in world affairs.  

We both want a world without nuclear weapons, and we are working together to make that a reality.  Last month, Norway participated in President Obama's spring 2010 Nuclear Security Summit.  

Norway and the United States have a shared interest in a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.

We both want to foster closer business ties, stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, and support energy saving and green technologies while mitigating climate change.  Issues related to energy are critical and the Norwegian government has placed energy, climate change, and the High North at the top of its agenda.  

A core mission of our Embassy in Oslo is to further expand the close economic and commercial relations between our countries.  Our two countries have a $15 billion per year bilateral trade relationship (including trade in services).  I will do all I can to make that relationship closer and more dynamic. Our Embassy is dedicated to serving business relationships.

Being here in Houston and visiting the Offshore Technology Conference, it is very clear that Norway is a key energy partner for the United States and a strong contributor to U.S. and European energy security.  U.S. companies - such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Marathon, Hess, and many service companies - have played a leading role in developing Norway’s offshore petroleum resources.  U.S. companies have prospered in a variety of ways from more than 40 years of close cooperation with Norway.  

This was also evident when I had the privilege of visiting a wide range of energy and service companies in Stavanger, often referred to as the energy capital of Norway.  I have visited the Norwegian Diaspora in Minnesota and visited with V.P. Mondale who advised me to travel outside of Oslo.  In my short time in Norway, I already have visited Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, Hammerfest, Bodø, Kongsberg, and Roros, with more visits to come.

I’m pleased to see that Norwegian companies are active in developing America’s energy resources – with Statoil leading the way with a range of activities from shale gas developments on the East Coast to offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico.  North America has developed into the most significant international market for Statoil.  

I am impressed that more than 140 Norwegian companies have chosen to invest in and establish a presence in the energy sector in the United States – most of them right here in Houston.  I have seen first-hand this week how this is a real success story.  We encourage more to follow.

I had a chance to visit many innovative companies at the OTC.  I come from a background on small company innovators.  I am pleased to note that of the 13 Spotlight Awards, five were won by Norwegian companies.  That is a better record than Norway had in the Olympics.

Looking ahead, our work together in the hydrocarbon sector will be crucial in promoting energy security, even as we work to improve energy efficiency, safety and alternate sources. It is in the interest of the U.S. and Norway to develop these resources fully, but to do so in an environmentally careful way.  This means developing and using the best possible production, environmental and safety technology.  The tragedy in the Gulf notwithstanding, the world needs and will continue to need increasing amounts of energy resources.  We will move past this event and be better equipped in the future to deal with such problems – the energy sector will only grow larger.

The United States and Norway are working hard to promote clean energy solutions and alternative, environmentally-friendly energy sources.  We actively support firms and research institutions with unique, high technology that are seeking new contacts and long-term bilateral partnerships.  An example of such a partnership is General Electric´s recent announcement to invest in an Offshore Technology Development Center in Norway as part of its significant European offshore wind energy initiative.  Another example is Statoil´s agreement with the University of Maine to develop a commercial test site for floating offshore wind turbines.  

The American economy currently gets 11 percent of its energy - or 19 gigawatts - from clean sources.  Hydropower and biomass remain the largest sources of renewable energy production, but solar and wind power are the fastest growing sectors - with Texas being the largest wind energy producing state.  We need to ramp up production and bring down costs.  

Energy is the one policy issue that affects virtually every other – from our economy to our environment to our security.  The Government has an important role to play in helping scale up clean energy, but we know, ultimately, that private industry needs to take the lead.  

America’s economy has always depended, above all, on a continuous flow of new technologies and new ideas entering the marketplace.  And the U.S. has far more diverse economic relations with Norway than just energy, although there is overlap and synergies between nearly all sectors.  Norway’s many resources and high per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) create attractive opportunities and synergies for U.S. companies in industries such as:

• information and communication technology
• healthcare 
• shipping and maritime technology 
• fishing
• defense
• transportation

I know that Norway is interested in developing its biotech and healthcare technologies sector.  Next week I am hosting a CEO Round Table on Biotech together with Innovation Norway at my residence in Oslo.  In June I will be instituting a business round-table at our residence to bring business and government leaders together.  I see many excellent opportunities for cooperation with U.S. industry.  

There's no reason we can't work together to create more of these clusters of innovation around the country, centered on medical research or any other strength a local community chooses to build on.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is playing a lead role in implementing President Obama’s recently announced National Export Initiative (NEI), which aims to double American exports over the next five years and support two million jobs here in the U.S.
What sets the President’s export initiative apart is that this is the first time the United States will have a government-wide export-promotion strategy with focused attention from the President and his Cabinet, including expanding its trade advocacy in all its forms, improving access to credit to businesses that want to export, and making sure American companies have free and fair access to foreign markets.

In the end, it is innovators like all of you that are going to show us how to get there.  The energy industry is high-risk and high-reward - it’s characterized by big investments, only some of which will generate substantial returns.  Your industry is a source of breakthroughs in technology, a source of high-paying jobs, and a constant flow of innovation that spins off new businesses with significant growth prospects.  Yesterday, I attended a meeting sponsored by the City of Stavanger with representatives from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab to see if there are applications from the U.S. space program that can work in sub-sea oil and gas exploration and drilling.

As I touched upon, I have a special interest in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, which I truly believe is the foundation for maintaining prosperity and finding solutions to the challenges of our age.  

It is worth stressing that strong protection for intellectual property rights is essential to stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship. The Embassy and I will be strong advocates for U.S. industry competing for business opportunities and tenders.  We want to partner with universities, trade associations, industry clusters, and venture capital contacts to reach entrepreneurial start-ups with exportable technologies.
    
Entrepreneurship has been high on President Obama’s agenda since he first took office.  He has often talked about the American tradition for hard work, perseverance, risk taking and individual responsibility.  

Last week President Obama hosted an Entrepreneurship Summit to highlight the importance of fostering entrepreneurship.  This summit focused especially on the connection between entrepreneurship and job creation in Muslim-majority countries, and in minority communities around the world.  

Business can also contribute to a stronger security relationship.  The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is a great example of a U.S. company working to strengthen the capability and capacity of the alliance and provide security and jobs.  Last week I visited Lockheed Martin and its production facilities in Dallas.  I got a close look at the next generation fighter that Norway and the U.S. will benefit from for many years to come.  In March I had the privilege of flying in an F-16 fighter in Bodø, Norway.  What the F-16 cooperation has meant for the bilateral security and commercial relationship for past decades will now be carried forward through the JSF cooperation.  This will also mean new business opportunities for U.S. and Norwegian technology firms for years to come.

As many of you know well, the U.S. offers some of the best educational opportunities in the world.  Growing the number of educational and R&D exchanges between our two countries is an investment in a continued close relationship between the U.S. and Norway.  We continue to collaborate with Norwegian partners, including the Ministry of Education, to identify new ways to promote education between the two countries.  I want to encourage you to bring us your ideas on how to support the Embassy’s initiatives in this regard.

I conclude by stating that the Embassy is a resource - call and ask how we can be of assistance - how we can work together to develop successful initiatives/projects for the future.  Come see us so we can understand your business before there is an issue.  We want to help you solve problems.

I look forward to a close working relationship with the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and with many of the individual U.S. and Norwegian companies present.  

As commercial ambassadors, you all have a critical role to play, and we will always be open to your views and your assistance.  

Thank you!