- Useful meeting with President Obama

US President Barack Obama thanked Norway for its military contribution in Libya, when he received Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday.

Obama said the US is very satisfied with Norway's contributions to the NATO-led missions over Libya, and underlined that Norway is an important ally.

The meeting lasted 45 minutes, as planned, and Prime Minister Stoltenberg said most of the meeting was spent discussing the global financial crisis, which is causing problems both in the US and Europe.

- This has been a very useful meeting with President Obama, and is an expression for how close the relations between the US and Norway are, Stoltenberg said on the steps of the White House.

The second important issue they discussed was the High North and the Arctic, and the outlook for natural resources in the region.

The two leaders also discussed the Joint Strike Fighter F-35 project. Norway has made a preliminary agreement to purchase 56 of these fighter bombers, which the US also has on order.

Stoltenberg said Norway is producing the rocket system Joint Strike Missile (JSM), and that Norway is hoping the JSF will be consstructed in such a way that the JSM may be integrated in the plane itself.

He said President Obama had once again expressed his sympathy with Norway and its people over the terrorist attcks on July 22nd. Obama also called Stoltenberg right after the news of the attacks, to express his sympathy.

Both Obama and Stoltenberg have said that they will help with the rebuilding of Libya.

(NRK)

Friday, 21 October 2011 07:25