President Piñera and First Lady Cecilia Morel welcome King and Queen of Norway: “We share an affection, a concern for and very special commitment to the environment and to the health of our oceans”.
Chile’s President and First Lady received King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway on Wednesday for a State Visit to celebrate 100 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
On Wednesday, President Sebastián Piñera received King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway for a State Visit to Chile. During their meeting, they discussed topics relating to the protection of the oceans and the poles, the fight against climate change, investment in areas like aquaculture, mining and renewable energy, as well as the importance of working towards sustainable fishing.
“We have so many things in common: we share an affection, a concern for and very special commitment to the environment and to the health of our oceans”, the President said during his joint statement with King Harald V.
President Piñera referred to Chile being the host of the COP25 summit in December and thanked Norway for their commitment to being part of this important event, which seeks to mitigate the global effects of climate change.
Other core themes were the commitment to developing renewable energy sources and seeking to make fishing really sustainable, thereby combating illegal, undocumented and unregulated fishing. To this end, Chile and Norway will continue working within the framework of the WTO and the United Nations’ High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
Yesterday, Norway signed the Our Oceans Declaration that makes it possible to continue working in line with Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals towards the conservation and sustainable use of our seas and marine resources. Chile leads the way in this aspect, having declared 43% of its exclusive economic zone to be protected marine areas.
President Piñera also stated that challenges related to guaranteeing democracy and respect for human rights were discussed, including the cases of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and the guerrillas in Colombia.
“We agreed to do everything in our power to help countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua recover the freedom, democracy and respect for human rights that they have lost through peaceful means and within the framework of human rights”, he said.
“The most important thing is that we share the values of and a commitment to freedom, democracy and respect for human rights”, he added.
Chile is Norway’s second most important Latin American economic partner.
The King and Queen were honored at Plaza de la Constitución and in the Patio de Los Cañones. They then met privately with President Piñera and the First Lady, Cecilia Morel, and participated in a meeting with the delegations of Norway and Chile.
President Piñera and King Harald V also exchanged medals. King Harald received the Order of Merit of Chile and Queen Sonja was given the Grand Cross in recognition of the close, historical friendship and cooperation that have existed between the two countries.
King Harald gave President Piñera the Royal Order of Saint Olaf of Norway and gave the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Merit of Norway to the First Lady. They then shared a lunch in the guests’ honor in the Patio de Los Naranjos.