In his address, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said, in part:

"First of all, I'd like to thank our Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Norwegian-Russian Chamber of Commerce for organising this forum. Our first meeting took place in Oslo on the sidelines of President Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to Norway last year. I'm pleased to say that this time the forum has brought together even more participants.

"Today we will discuss major directions of Russian-Norwegian cooperation. It embraces oil and gas, the fish industry, aquaculture, R&D and innovations; energy efficiency, information technology and telecommunications. These spheres form an integral part of economic modernisation, which is a focal point of our joint efforts.

"During the forum our companies can establish new partnerships, strengthen existing ones, propose specific projects and sign documents on further cooperation. We have created a good venue for maintaining durable business ties.

"Russia considers Norway to be a reliable and important partner in northern Europe. Norway has substantial economic and political potential, and our trade and economic relations are stable and long-term. Not so long ago we marked a significant anniversary in our relations – 90 years since the signing of the bilateral Agreement on Trade. Our first Trade Mission opened in Oslo in 1921.

"Bilateral trade has shown steady growth in the last few years. This testifies, among other things, to the effective work of our Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. In 2010, trade between our two countries reached $2.1 billion. In the first seven months of this year our trade amounted to $1.7 billion – half a billion more than in the same period last year.

"Russia primarily exports raw materials – smelt, fuel, oils and electricity. The share of machines, equipment and transport vehicles is not large. Fish and fish products form the lion's share of Norwegian exports. Russia is Norway's second largest market after France.

"Investment cooperation has resulted in two billion dollars worth of accumulated direct Norwegian investment in the Russian economy. This is obviously below the level of our trade and economic cooperation. We are interested in Norway making a bigger investment, primarily in our production.

"Norwegian investors have gained a firm foothold in the Russian market in telecommunications, oil and gas, the printing and hotel industries and banks. One Norwegian company has launched a plant to produce agricultural equipment in the Lipetsk Region.

"I see this forum as a practical step towards setting an agenda for the next meeting of our Intergovernmental Commission. We hope that the business community will give its recommendations on the modernisation items of our agenda.

"We coordinated the text of the Declaration of Partnership for Modernisation fairly quickly and signed it at the commission's regular session in Oslo last February. Implementation of this declaration will allow our government agencies to exchange information and cooperate in elaborating a mutually beneficial and predictable framework for the development of economic cooperation, including trade, investment and anti-corruption measures. At present we are actively drafting the programme of action for the declaration, which will specify our joint projects.

"We are stepping up joint efforts in the production of hydrocarbons in different regions, including the Far North. We continue our cooperation on the Stockman deposit. We must continue intensifying our joint work on geological prospecting and development of deposits, production and transportation of hydrocarbons and development of relevant technology and equipment.

"The preservation of the environment of the northern seas and territories and ensuring vital activity and industrial safety in northern conditions are a major element of our cooperation.

"We are ready to take part in the implementation of major projects in Norway and in third countries jointly with Norwegian companies. I hope that participants in today's round tables will discuss these opportunities.

"During Medvedev's afore-mentioned official visit to Norway, we signed the agreement with Norway on maritime delimitation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean that entered in force on July 7, 2011. This opens up new prospects of bilateral cooperation in the former disputed area. The agreement regulates, in detail, bilateral cooperation on mineral resources. It will be based on the principle according to which each deposit intersected by the delimitation line may be developed only together and as an integral whole. This approach makes it possible to quickly overcome all disagreements on the distribution of hydrocarbon resources.

"I'm confident that today's work will produce proposals on joint engineering enterprises and joint ventures on the production of equipment with the participation of Russian companies, maximum localisation and placement of orders in Russia.

"I'd like to emphasise that we will continue doing all we can to promote bilateral cooperation. Our countries have every opportunity for this.

"I'd like to wish successful and fruitful work to the participants of the forum."