NATO member states are diverse, but the NATO PA helps to create understanding, cooperation and solidarity across borders, said the President of the Storting, Olemic Thommessen. He underscored that the Storting and Norway itself have supported NATO since the alliance’s establishment in 1949, and that Norway was one of the initiators of the NATO PA in 1955.

“The NATO PA’s most important contribution is to create understanding around NATO’s decisions, the background leading up to them and, not least, why they are made,” said Thommessen.

The Storting, or Norwegian Parliament, and its President, Olemic Thommessen, are hosting the autumn session in Stavanger. On Sunday evening, all participants were invited to a reception at the Stavanger Concert Hall. In addition to Thommessen’s speech, they heard remarks from NATO PA President Michael Turner and the Mayor of Stavanger, Christine Sagen Helgø.

Thommessen said the population in the NATO member states wants not only to be informed about defence and security policy, but also to influence it. Parliamentarians in general, and the NATO PA in particular, therefore have key roles to play.