The Ambassadors of the Nordic countries in Belgrade, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden hosted jointly a reception at the Residence of the Ambassador of Norway, to celebrate the Nordic Day on 23 March.
The Nordic Day is a manifestation of a Nordic inter-governmental and inter-parliamentarian cooperation that is one of the oldest and most comprehensive regional cooperation models in the world. The Nordic “constitution”, also known as the Helsinki Treaty – a document regulating the official cooperation among the Nordic countries – was signed on 23 March 1962 in Helsinki, Finland. The date has therefore been called the “Nordic Day”. The signatory parties were all five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The treaty consists of 70 paragraphs, which stipulate that the parties shall maintain and foster cooperation in the spheres of legislation, culture, social affairs, environmental protection, infrastructure and economy. Likewise, the treaty provides for equal treatment of all Nordic citizens when devising laws and other regulations.
In 2018 Sweden holds the Presidency. Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Stefan Löfven presented the priorities of the 2018 Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The Presidency programme, entitled ‘An inclusive, innovative and secure Nordic region’ is based on three themes.
The first theme, ‘An inclusive Nordic region’, focuses on the Nordic social model whose hallmarks are trust, equality, gender equality and openness. The starting point is a number of challenges that the Nordic countries share in these areas. The second theme, ‘A sustainable and innovative Nordic region’, focuses on Nordic innovation as a driving force for sustainable social transformation and the third theme is ‘A secure and open Nordic region’. Here, the focus is on cooperation on broad security issues, with security and openness as the watchwords.
“The Nordic region is regarded as a world leader when it comes to social trust among its populations and trust remains vital for the growth of our societies in both economic and other terms”, said H.E. Mr Jan Lundin, Ambassador of Sweden to Serbia and Montenegro.
The Nordic region is home to 27 million people, who are spread across eight time zones and have a strong language community – 80-90% of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian words are either identical or similar. Equality, welfare and democracy are common Nordic values that pave the way for close inter-Nordic cooperation on all levels – from prime ministers to primary school pupils.
The photo from left:
Mr Anders Christian Hougård, Ambassador of Denmark
Mrs. Outi Hannula, Attaché of the Embassy of Finland
Mr. Ola Andersson, Swedish Embassy Adviser and Head of the Office for Development Assistance and Cooperation
Mr Arne Sannes Björnstad, Ambassador of Norway
