High North: Norway's Highest Priority

From the Norway Post comes this account of an additional NOK 530 million in spending for High North initiatives in the 2010 budget proposal. The extra money is targeted toward "value creation, knowledge-building and the environment."

The article doesn't mention the total expenses related to the High North strategy or what percentage increase the extra funds might represent.

Regarding science and engineering, marine bioprospecting is said to get NOK 19 million, and NOK 17 million will fund the creation of a Tromsø-based center for climate and environment. The big winner, though, is "space-related activities," slated for NOK 126 million in new money. The millions will help improve satellite navigation in the region. Overall, however, science funding is small beside the NOK 300 million designated for international cooperation.

The High North remains important
by Rolleiv Solholm
(14 October 2009) -- The High North remains the Government’s most important strategic priority area. In the National budget, a record increase in funding by about NOK 530 million has therefore been proposed for a range of measures in the High North in 2010. “This is a project with a time horizon of generations. Since 2006 we have increased funding for our efforts in the High North by more than NOK 1.5 billion, and with these allocations we have made substantial progress,” Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre commented.

Link to full article: http://www.norwaypost.no/content/view/22625/26/