Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s introduction at the press conference after meeting with President Volodomyr Zelensky

Transcript from the press conference

Good morning, dear President, dear Volodomyr,

Welcome to Oslo. It is a cold morning, but – a very warm welcome to you, to a friend and a man who is standing in the middle of a very critical fight for his country’s independence – and also for values and standards that are critically important for Norway.

We will continue to stand by the people of Ukraine. This is a fight for freedom – and that is also important for us.

And I hope you will leave Oslo with a strong sense of support from Norway, the Norwegian Parliament, and from your Nordic colleagues.

Norwegian long-term political, military, economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine remains strong. We have a united Parliament; all parties behind our five-year Nansen package, supporting your defense, supporting your economy and your rebuilding efforts, and we know that just this morning, Ukraine is constantly being attacked by Russian missiles, and you are in need of support to defend yourselves.

Norway is announcing today precise additional support to Ukraine – and I would just like to share with you:

President Zelenskyj and his government needs to pay nurses, doctors, teachers and run his administration. We are now able, as part of our Nansen package, to make a pledge of USD 1 billion in 2023, we are about to leave that year now, and then we are also increasing our financial and humanitarian support to around USD 800 million this year.

Then, we can also announce that we will be supporting, in 2024, in the early months, direct economic support to these critical services, so that we don’t get shortage in the delivery to the Ukrainian people.

We have also decided to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure by donating additional air defense. Every day reminds us that this is critically important.

This is something that Norway has done in the past and we have been able to increase that now. We will also increase our co-funding with European partners to the defense industry in order to produce more ammunition to the benefit of the Ukrainian forces, and again, as I said, budgetary support to the World Bank Mechanism in order to assist Ukraine with basic public services.

We have also annunced a winter package of humanitarian aid, food, water, warm clothes, necessary for the cold winter. And finally, I would like to reiterate that we will continue to argue for and support and defend Ukraine’s right to defend itself and the key principles of international law.

So, Volodomyr, you are welcome, and I hope you will have a productive day.