Last week, a delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Norway. The delegation, headed by the Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Parliament Halyna Mykhailyuk, included MPs Yuliia Hryshyna, Iryna Konstankevych, Oleksandra Ustinova, Borys Prykhodko, Serhii Alekseiev, and Serhii Taruta.
The Ukrainian parliamentarians had a busy agenda during their visit, during which they held a number of important meetings with representatives of the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament, and the Government of Norway. In particular, meetings were held with the leadership of the Storting – the President of the Parliament Masud Gharahkhani, the Secretary General of the Parliament, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Minister of Defence and the Secretary of State, the Deputy Minister of Defence, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, members of the Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, members of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, heads of all parliamentary factions and parliamentarians representing various political parties.
At all meetings, Ukrainian representatives raised the most important issues for Ukraine: Storting's support for the expansion of Fritjof Nansen's five-year defence programme, in particular in the area of arms supplies to Ukraine, Norway's leadership in international efforts to implement the President's Peace Formula, the creation of mechanisms to bring russia to justice for war crimes and restore justice, security guarantees, the expansion of the training programme for Ukrainian servicemen, the construction of shelters in Ukrainian schools, and the return of the Ukrainian military to the country. In addition, they focused on exchanging legislative experience and priorities for parliamentary work.
The head of the delegation, Halyna Mykhailyuk, noted that Norway ranks third in the world in terms of commitments to assist Ukraine as a percentage of GDP and fifth in terms of absolute amounts of such commitments. In February 2023, the Government of Norway announced an unprecedented five-year support package for Ukraine – the Fridtjof Nansen Programme, under which our country has already received the first part of significant military and humanitarian support over the past year.
“As the Head of the delegation, I thanked Norway for its powerful assistance and expressed hope that it will increase in the coming period to accelerate our victory. The Norwegian support and promotion of our initiatives on global platforms is an important factor in expanding the pro-Ukrainian international coalition,” the MP said.
One of the main results of the visit was the creation of a friendship group with Ukraine for the first time in relations between the two parliaments.
“In total, Storting has ten friendship groups with different countries. Mostly with the Baltic neighbouring states. There has never been a friendship group with Ukraine. And this is a significant result of our work here – this group was created in just one day. We felt a truly friendly attitude of the members of the Storting from all factions towards Ukraine.
Almost 30 MPs registered for the group in the first day after the invitation letters were sent,” said Yulia Gryshyna, a member of the delegation, adding that the next day a constituent meeting was held, during which Ukrainian colleagues invited the Norwegian delegation to come to Kyiv to “see with their own eyes how their funds work and help Ukraine.”
Norwegian parliamentarians, for their part, asked at each meeting to share the unique experience of the Ukrainian Parliament during the war, as the Storting did not work during the Second World War and decision-making was transferred to the Government.
Summing up the results of the visit, the Ukrainian MPs thanked their Norwegian partners for their support and active participation in international efforts for a common victory and expressed hope for further deepening of the interparliamentary dialogue and partnership.