Ladies and gentlemen!

It is an honor and a privilege as chairman of The Nordic Council of Ministers to be here at the highly esteemed Toronto International Film Festival.
I can’t imagine a better platform for presenting and launching the globalization strategy initiated by the Nordic Ministers of Culture.

The Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – and the autonomous areas in Greenland, Faroe Islands and Åland Islands have had a formal co-operation within The Nordic Council of Ministers for more than thirty five years. This co-operation, which is close and fruitful, encompasses most fields of society with the exception of foreign policy. For these countries it is therefore quite natural to look for joint solutions to common problems.

And we - the Nordic peoples and politicians - find strength in sharing and learning from each other's experiences. The long tradition of regional co-operation is unique in an international perspective - it is based on that which unites us: the common cultural background and values, our heritage and – to some degree - the languages.

The actual work on developing a joint Nordic strategy for globalization began in 2007 when the Nordic Prime Ministers set a new agenda for the
co-operation where a common response to globalization was the key issue. The question being: How should the Nordic countries tackle jointly the challenges of globalization?
14 projects were defined as particularly important. They differ widely, but are all designed to generate direct outcomes and strengthen the Nordic competitiveness globally in sciences and in the field of innovation, as well as to stimulate creativity and generate new ideas.
The projects are also designed to generate Nordic synergy, which means that they must focus on the areas in which the Nordic countries are able to achieve more together than as individual nations. The aim is to contribute to a positive environment for businesses and citizens in the Nordic Region, both for those already there and those still to come.
One of the main goals is to develop and promote the Nordic Region as a Center for Creative Industries.
The greatest asset of any region is its people, its individual creativity, skills and talents. Industries based on these assets are known within the economy as the ‘Creative Industries’ – a unique sector that creates wealth and jobs through producing intellectual property.
As well as representing one of the largest and fastest growing sectors, the Creative Industries are at the heart of the Creative Economy: encapsulating those wider processes, products and services for which creativity is central. In doing so, they play a crucial role in the economic competitiveness of the Nordic Region providing the added value required for a high quality, knowledge-driven offer.

A strong, well-supported and highly connected Creative Industries sector provides the platform for a competitive, entrepreneurial and globally-oriented Nordic Region.
To put it plainly: There is a commercial, professional and cultural logic for Nordic creative industries businesses to connect, do business and project themselves to the global markets
In this perspective the Nordic Ministers of Culture decided to formulate and implement a specific and highly operative strategy of their own:
The Creative North.
Organized and formulated within three focus-areas which are

• A More skilled Nordic region
• A More visible Nordic region
• A Thriving Nordic region

The overall aim is to acknowledge the Nordic co-operation of culture as an important – perhaps the most important – common ground for Nordic co-operation.
As the very foundation of the Nordic community, Nordic arts and culture should ensure craft and brand quality, creativity and diversity in a healthy and sustainable global development.
Nordic arts and culture should be more noticeable on the global scene and contribute in a constructive way in exploiting the possibilities and facing the challenges of globalization.
Hence a number of concrete projects will be initiated over the next three to four years, starting now, at the Toronto International Film Festival.
One of the projects, called High Five, is designed and carried out by The Nordic Film & TV Fund. High Five is a new quality trademark for the distribution and promotion of Nordic films.
With the support of The Nordic Council of Ministers - and as an important part of our globalization strategy – The Nordic Film & TV Fund will be launching this new International Cinema Distribution Support Scheme. The aim is to support distributors in countries outside the Nordic region (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) who acquire rights to Nordic films selected at TIFF 2009.
Creative industries such as computer games and film are also important core initiatives in our strategy.
We are therefore strengthening the existing Nordic Computer Game Program with an initiative to support digital distribution and export of Nordic titles and products to the global market.
The Nordic computer and video games market is now the sixth or seventh largest in the world; per capita sales are tied with Japan, and approaching UK and US consumption levels. Meanwhile, the Nordic game developers are recognized as a global force, having built a net-export industry clearly in the world’s top ten in terms of size and sales.
The mission of the Nordic Computer Game Program is to ensure access to quality nordic computer games for children and young people.

A number of other important projects are now on the threshold of being launched:
Nordic architecture of landscapes is to be launched at the Shanghai Expo 2010, based on the Expo-theme: “Better City, Better Life”
and
Nordic literature at the Paris Bookfair in 2011: The fair will feature especially Nordic literature and thus provide the perfect setting for branding Nordic Literature to the French-speaking market.
Several other projects will be initiated during the next 3-4 years.
Should you be interested in knowing more about the strategy and the specific projects now in focus, I invite you to pick up one of the flyers.
Dear friends - let me again express my gratitude and pleasure at being here – this is my first visit to Canada – the promised land for so many Icelanders and other Nordic people in the eighteenth and nineteenth century – a remarkable story of immigration that in the end has made us all richer and closer.