Transcript Challenges facing Norwegian business and industry

EEA/EU
- NHO’s strategy and policy
Director Siri Bjerke
May 7, 2002
Who is NHO?
UNICE
Regional
Offices
NHO
Head Office
Brussels
Office
Sectoral
Federations
NBL
FHL
PIL
TBL
16 000 member
companies
NHO’s strategy
 Long-term goal: EU membership
(not on the agenda)
 Active and knowledge based debate
 Strategy for how to ”navigate by the stars”
 Ensure competetiveness
(79 % of export to EU)
EU is changing
EFTA - from 8% to 1% of EU’s population
600
500
Millions inhabitants
400
300
200
EØS-EFTA
EU
100
0
1992
2002
2005?
Answer to the marginalisation:
Active national strategy
 White paper about the EEA-agreement
 Higher priority, more resources, better
knowledge, more open processes
 Priority to energy and fish issues
 Ensure competitiveness
NHO is focusing on:
 Better knowledge about the EEA-agreement:
 Ceps study, ESA-report
 Consequences of the enlargement:
 special focus on the fish industry
 EU, the world’s most competitive region by 2010
(Lisbon strategy)
 a Norwegian response
The Lisbon strategy
”Make EU the most competetive and dynamic knowledge based
economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with
more and better jobs and greater cohesion”
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Concrete targets to reach the goals are set - some examples:
An information society for all:
 Every 15 pupil in EU with Internet connection by 2003
Create a European area of research and innovation:
 3% of GDP to R&D by 2010
Education and training for living and working in the knowledge society:
 EU education and training systems should be the world quality reference by 2010
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A comprehensive approach
Open method of co-ordination (bencmarking etc.)
Driven by heads of states
Need for a parallel strategy
 Strongly effects the development of the internal market and the
conditions for business and industry
 Norway already lags behind in transferring to the ”new economy”
 Use the Lisbon strategy as a catalyst to revitalize our national
strategy for growth and development.
 ”Lyft Sverige” (S) - ”Slipp skaperkraften fri” (N)  What will be the Icelandic vision?
 Common effort to be included in EU’s Open method of coordination (benchmarking, indicators)
New EU debate in Norway?
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Traumatic history
Government’s ”suicide paragraph”
Growing awareness of marginalisation
Conditions for the fish industry
General elections 2005
Perhaps 2007?