Bucharest, Feb 12 /Rompres/ - Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu, currently on an official visit to Oslo, has identified, together with the representatives of the main Norwegian companies with investments in Romania, a series of projects, mainly energy ones, which qualify for receiving Norwegian financing.

The Romanian chief diplomat participated on Monday in a working luncheon with the management of Innovation Norway, the institution that coordinates the financing bilateral programmes under the aegis of the European Economic Space, a Romanian Foreign Ministry's release reports.

The programme of the visit's fist day also included meetings with the managers of two out of the most prestigious Norwegian think tanks, Norwegian Peace Studying Institute (PRIO) - Stein Tonnesson and the Fridtjof Nansen - Peter Johan Schei Institute. The discussions referred to the identification of some cooperation opportunities between the two institutes and similar organizations in Romania. An exchange of views referring to the main topics of the international agenda (the situation in Western Balkans /Kosovo, the security issue in the perspective of the NATO Sumit in Bucharest) also took place, the release also reads.

ForMin Adrian Cioroianu met on Tuesday, the second day of an official visit to Oslo, with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store, with Defence Minister Anne Grette Strom-Erichsen, with the head and the members of the foreign policy committee of the Norwegian Parliament.

A press release of the Foreign Ministry says that the talks with Norwegian officials were focused on the agenda of the NATO summit due in Bucharest, with emphasis on the prospects of enlargement of the Alliance, the situation in Afghanistan, Kosovo, the anti-missile shield and the Treaty on the Conventional Forces in Europe.

The parties reviewed the stage and prospects of the bilateral links, in the new context of Romania's participation in the European Economic Space (EES), underlining the opportunity of development of common projects in the fields of energy, environment, and sustainable growth, funded through SEE mechanisms.

On the talks' agenda there were also the energy issues in the Black Sea area and the Far North, the NATO-Russia ties, Romania's experience as a EU member state, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

The visit confirmed the interest of the two parties in the development of the bilateral political and economic links, in the continuation of consultations on security issues, which are an important item on the agenda of the Romanian-Norwegian cooperation, the press release said.

Minister Cioroianu met Prof. Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute, and Prof. Jardar Seim, a specialist in the history of South-Eastern Europe.

At the Norwegian Atlantic Committee, before an audience including mainly diplomats accredited in Oslo, Cioroianu held a conference on 'The NATO summit in Bucharest: ambitions and opportunities.'

Minister Adrian Cioroianu's visit to Norway is part of his consultations with the European partners on the security policy, in the context of the NATO Summit that will be held in Bucharest in April 2008, the release reads.

[Source: Romanian National News Agency ROMPRES ]