According to ezinereligion, in 2007, Norway had a population of 4.6 million people and its economy was largely driven by natural resources, particularly oil and gas. The country had strong diplomatic relations with other countries in Europe and beyond, particularly the European Union, the United States and China. In terms of politics, Norway has a parliamentary system in place with a Prime Minister as head of government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The country also enjoyed good relations with its Nordic neighbors, especially Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Yearbook 2007
Norway. In his New Year’s speech, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg explained that his government intends to be the first in the world to buy emission allowances for all government employees’ flights abroad, i.e. over 20,000 trips annually. At this spring’s Labor Party Congress, the Prime Minister followed up with his party planning to have reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent by 2012 compared to 1990, far more than the Kyoto Protocol requires. By 2020, emissions should have decreased by 30 percent and by 2050 Norway will have no greenhouse gas emissions at all, according to Stoltenberg. Former UN chief Kofi Annan, who was visiting the Congress, described Stoltenberg’s plan as “number one in the world” and urged all countries to follow suit.
- According to abbreviationfinder: NO is the 2-letter acronym for the country of Norway.
According to CountryAAH, Oslo is the capital city of Norway. Norway’s disputed LO leader Gerd-Liv Valla was subjected to murder threats at the beginning of the year which forced her to work from home, where she was protected by guards in bulletproof vests. The drama developed after a conflict between Valla and LO’s international secretary, who resigned and accused Valla of bullying and harassment. The conflict led to one of the largest media storms Norway experienced, and in March, Gerd-Liv Valla chose to resign as LO manager after being severely criticized for his leadership style. Valla was considered to have great political influence in the Norwegian labor movement.
While oil prices went up and the Norwegian Oil Fund passed SEK 2 billion during the year, unemployment in Norway continued to decline. In ten years, it had halved, reaching almost down to 2 percent during the year. In Rogaland county in Vestlandet, unemployment was reported to be down 1.5 per cent at the beginning of the year. As a result, the labor shortage became a growing problem for Norwegian industry.
In March, the European Court of Justice raised the case of the war children born in Norway during the Second World War with German fathers and Norwegian mothers who were subjected to abuse. 159 of them had sued the Norwegian state and demanded an apology and a higher financial damages than the Norwegian state offered. In total, between 10,000 and 12,000 so-called German children were born.
In the spring, Norway became the first country in Europe to normalize relations with the Palestinian government after the Hamas movement took place there at the beginning of the year. The Secretary of State from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in Gaza, and Norway decided to contribute financially to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
In April, Norway and Iceland signed an agreement on defense and security cooperation, which means that Norwegian fighter aircraft will be stationed in Iceland and that Norway will help Iceland assert its sovereignty in peacetime, as the country was suspended without military forces since the US withdrew its air force from the island..
In the municipal elections in September, the Socialist Left Party (SV) made a disaster election and lost half of its voters. The most successful party was the bourgeois opposition party Høyre, which thus took the place as the next largest party after the Labor Party. In the parliamentary elections two years earlier, the Progress Party became the second largest. The Labor Party retained its position as the largest party, but the government coalition was weakened by the SV’s sharp decline. A few months after the municipal elections, the government was reformed. former SV leader and international mediator Erik Solheim was included in the ministerial circle. He became Minister of the Environment and Development Minister.
Norway weather in March, April and May
Average daily temperatures between -2 ° C and 16 ° C can be expected over the next three months. May is mildest in Oslo, while March is noticeably colder in Vardø. Temperatures in Oslo are between 4 and 16 ° C, in Vardø between -2 and 5 ° C and in Bodø between 2 and 9 ° C.
Do you want to go on a beach holiday? The water temperatures are in March, April and May 3-9 ° C. So the weather is not suitable for swimming.
In March it rains depending on the region of 9 (Oslo) to 12 days (Bodo), in April to 7 (Oslo) to 11 days (Bodo), and in May at 8 (Oslo) to 9 days (Bodo).
In the period from March to May , the sun shines on average between 0 and 7 hours a day. The sunniest weather is in May in Oslo, with less sun you will have to make do with Vardø in March.
Norway’s foreign trade
The Norwegian business community is to a large extent based on international trade and the international division of labor. Norway has had a foreign trade surplus every year since 1988, and since the turn of the century the surplus has been in the order of 200 billion.
Norwegian goods exports are to a large extent based on the utilization of the natural production resources in the country. Traditionally this applies to exports of wood pulp, cellulose, paper and cardboard, fish and other fishery products, fertilizers, carbides and other products from the electrochemical industry, and aluminum, ferro alloys and other products from the electrometallurgical industry. Since the 1970s, oil and gas discoveries in the North Sea have provided the basis for considerable export activity.
Not only the natural resources have an impact on the composition of a country’s production and foreign trade. In low-resource demanding industrial groups such as the mechanical and engineering industries, the electrical and other appliance industries, natural resources do not play such a big role. Crucial is the human effort, organizational and structural conditions, capital equipment, etc. Of particular importance is the professional level of the workforce and the management’s ability to plan and organize production, product development, design and marketing. Since the 1950s, the traditional Norwegian home industries have started to focus more and more on sales abroad. In particular, exports from the engineering industry have increased in the fields of ship equipment, machinery and electrical and electronic products. There has been a gradual transition from the export of raw materials and semi-finished products to more processed products. This trend is related to trade policy conditions. Through the collaboration in GATT and EFTA, the trade agreement with the EU and the EEA Agreement, have succeeded in the successive dismantling of restrictions on international trade and a reduction in customs duties. This has created new export opportunities for more processed goods, as these were primarily goods that were previously charged with quantitative regulations and high tariffs in almost all countries.
In 2005, total imports of goods and services to Norway amounted to NOK 353 billion. Goods imports are spread over a very wide range of different goods. A significant part consists of machinery and means of transport and other investment goods, raw materials and other input goods for Norwegian business.
Norway’s largest trading partners were Sweden and Germany, respectively. 13.4 and 13% of Norway’s total imports. The geographical distribution of Norway’s exchange of goods (excluding ships, oil platforms, oil and natural gas) with other countries shows that nearly 3 / 4 of Norway’s international trade takes place with the other countries in Western Europe.
Norway had long net debt to foreign countries. However, during 1995, Norway’s claims abroad were greater than its debt. At the end of 2003, net receivables abroad amounted to approx. 809 billion kroner
Foreign trade as a percentage by country 2005
| Import | Export | |
| Sweden | 13.4 | 12.3 |
| Germany | 13.0 | 9.2 |
| Great Britain | 7.1 | 11.0 |
| Denmark | 7.0 | 6.3 |
| United States | 5.5 | 10.1 |
| France | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Netherlands | 4.2 | 8.6 |
Norway – Oslo
Oslo
Oslo, municipality and capital of Norway; 454 km2, 673 469 residents (2018). Oslo, which is the country’s largest city, is identical to the municipality of Oslo and the county of Oslo. In addition to the actual city, Oslo also includes parts of Nordmarka’s lush, hilly forest area. Holmenkollen and Frognersetern, as well as smaller islands in the Oslo Fjord. Oslo’s urban area, which extends into neighboring municipalities, has 988,873 residents, and the Oslo region (metropolitan area), which in addition to the city also includes parts of Viken county, has 1,546,706 residents.
Business
The Oslo region is the center for Norwegian industry, administration, trade, banking and insurance. Although the industry has declined in size since the early 1970s, it still employs 9% of Norway’s industrial workers. Most of the country’s largest industrial groups have their headquarters located in the Oslo region. Norsk Hydro A / S, Aker Group (Fornebu), Hydro Aluminum A / S and Elkem A / S. However, several of these groups have no production in the urban region. Industrial employment mainly contributes to companies in the graphic and engineering industries (primarily the electrical and electronic industries and the machine industry) and the food industry. Characteristic of the industry is also the close connection to research environments in the city. This is typical of electronics and data companies, but also for the pharmaceutical industry. The formerly important shipbuilding industry is now of relatively little importance.
The industry’s important position in the business sector is not reflected in the number of employees. Dominating in this regard is the public and private services sector, followed by trade as well as banking, insurance and other financial activities. Most of Norway’s largest banks, e. g. Nordea Norway, DNB (formerly Den norske Bank), and insurance companies, e. g. The Storebrand Group (Bærum) is headquartered in the Oslo region.
communications
Oslo is the country’s transport center. From the new Central Station, rail lines to Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim, Stockholm and Gothenburg are extended. Oslo Airport (Gardermoen) is the country’s largest domestic and international airport. Oslo has the country’s largest import port if you disregard oil products, and passenger traffic by boat abroad is significant. From Oslo, regular traffic is maintained with Copenhagen, Frederikshavn and Hirtshals in Denmark and with Kiel in Germany.
The road network in the Oslo region was previously insufficiently developed, which in rushing times resulted in significant congestion problems. Major work to improve the traffic situation was started in the 1980s. To finance the road development and improve public transport, all car traffic is now charged to Oslo. With the help of ring roads, the subway construction and gradually expanded subway traffic, traffic in Oslo today flows relatively well.
Architecture and cityscape
When Christiania in 1814 received the status of the capital city had a comprehensive and unified architecture with stone buildings of one or two floors in an area of approximately 600 m by 600 m. In addition to the cathedral from 1697, the Cathedral School and the medieval Akershus was all institutions originally constructed for private use.
In the middle of the 19th century, the shape of a capital city began to emerge. The castle, designed by the Danish Hans Ditlev Linstow, was erected in 1825–48. Since 1840, the axially laid out Slottsveien – later Karl Johans gate – existed as a connection between the city and the castle. Along this, the most important institutions were placed, including the university (1841–54) by Christian Henrik Grosch, who also designed the Basarhallene (1840–54) behind the cathedral, after the city fire in 1858 built with the Fire Chief (1860) by the same architect. The Storting building (1861–66) was designed by the Swedish Emil Langlet. To the east Karl Johan ends by the East Railway Station (1882) by Georg Bull, who also drew several city plans. The National Theater (inaugurated in 1899) was designed by Henrik Bull.
The industries that established themselves along Akerselva attracted large workers’ settlements in the east, while the bourgeoisie spread west of the center, which was dominated by commercial and office buildings. In the early 1900s, the city expanded north with monumentally designed residential areas according to plans by Harald Hals. In the center was added the Town Hall (1917–50) by Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson; otherwise, the center changed relatively little until about 1980, when the economic upswing enabled large-scale renewal projects such as Aker Brygge, largely designed by Niels Torp. However, the largest single building project of the 1980s was Norges Bank (1987) designed by Lund & Slaatto, an architect duo whose influence on Norwegian architecture began with the massive Sankt Halvard church and monastery (1958-66).
In 1998, Oslo’s new Gardermoen airport was put into operation, where both the terminal (executed by the Aviaplan architect’s office under Chief Architect Gudmund Stokke) and the surrounding buildings (Lund & Slaatto, Jensen & Skodvin and others) hold high class.
cultural Life
Oslo has three permanent theater scenes: the National Theater (with four stages and an annual Ibsen festival), Det Norske Theater and Oslo Nye Teater, to which comes the Norske Opera, as well as establishment for opera, comedies and revues, eg. ABC Theater and Chat Noir. The Aker Brygge entertainment and business center also includes two theater rooms, one of which is intended for free groups.
In the Oslo Concert Hall, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra plays, while jazz, soul and rock etc. are grown at Oslo Jazzhus, Stortorvets Gjæstgiveri and others, and for large audience magnets there is Oslo Spektrum.
Among the art museums are the National Gallery, which displays Norwegian visual art but also has a large international, classical collection, while the Museum of Contemporary Art and Henie – Onstad Art Center in Bærum municipality, 12 km west of the center, specializes in contemporary Norwegian and international art. Works by two of Norway’s best-known artists show the Munch Museum at Tøyen and the Vigelands plant in Frognerparken. The Frogner Park is also home to the Vigeland Museum and Oslo City Museum. Oslo City Hall with its large murals is also a museum of Norwegian monumental painting. The International Children’s Art Museum has attracted much attention.
At Bygdøy, just west of Oslo, there are a number of special museums: the Norwegian Folk Museum, Norway’s equivalent to Skansen in Stockholm with, among other things. Gol’s stave church, Viking Ship House with the Viking ships from Gokstad and Oseberg from the 8th century, the Norwegian Maritime Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum. Nansen’s and Amundsen’s polar ship Fram is surrounded by large polar historical exhibitions. Akershus, on a cape in the Oslo Fjord and in itself a remarkable cultural memory, houses, among other things. Home Front Museum and Defense Museum.
History
Oslo was founded according to Snorre Sturlasson by Harald Hårdråd in the middle of the 1000s. However, according to archaeological observations, the site, “Gamlebyen” at Bjørvika east of the present Akershus, was a town already from about 1000. Olav III Kyrre (regent 1066-93) made Oslo the bishop’s seat, and the strong bishopric in Norway at that time also meant that the place soon became a political center. But events during the decades around 1300 partially changed Oslo’s role and profile: Håkon V Magnusson (regent 1299-1319) built Akershus and made the castle a permanent royal residence, and merchants from Rostock came and took the lead of Oslo’s foreign trade for 200 years ahead. At the end of the Middle Ages, however, the city suffered the same decline as Norway in general.
In the 16th century, better times were arranged for Oslo, when Hansan’s trade dominance in Nordic waters was broken, while Norway’s timber exports gained a big boost. But extensive fires had been a difficult scourge for the city ever since the Middle Ages, and when it was re-established in 1624, Kristian IV decided that it would not be rebuilt. Instead, he built a new city, Kristiania, right next to Akershus, transferred Oslo’s privileges to it and ordered the citizens to move there.
Kristiania soon grew, and Akershus was a long-standing governor’s residence. But Norway’s highest governing body was in Copenhagen, and the city was therefore mainly developed in the mercantile area, especially from the 1720s. Sawn timber continued to be its largest export commodity, and the timber trade for a long time benefited from good economic conditions. This, in turn, led to the emergence of a trading patrician, a wealthy upper class of sawmill owners, large merchants and shipowners. However, the British naval blockade against Norway during the war years 1807–14 had effects that the city could overcome only around the middle of the century.
In 1814, however, Kristiania’s position changed radically through Norway’s detachment from Denmark and union with Sweden. The city became the seat of the government, the parliament and (from 1815) the administrative center of the state. Already in 1811, it had acquired a university, and it soon became also the cultural center of the country. Furthermore, during Kristiania’s first half-century as the capital, an external adjustment was made to its new status, mainly by the erection of several public monumental buildings.
The city’s population increased from 9,000 to over 250,000 in 1801–1920. Oslo, which in 1925 reclaimed its old name, became the country’s leading industrial city and in 1948 had reached up to 430,000 residents and in 1970 480,000. while the number of residents in the inner city has decreased.