Norway threatens Afghanistan with aid cuts if corruption is not reduced

 

OSLO – Norway will keep aid to Afghanistan at a high level until 2024. However, Norway could reduce the aid if the peace talks and anti-corruption efforts fail.

Norway announced its position during a donor country conference for Afghanistan on Tuesday.

“Norway will maintain development assistance at a high level until 2024 and provide around NOK 650 million in development assistance and humanitarian aid in 2021.

“Our support and further levels (of support) will be assessed on the basis of the authorities’ efforts against corruption,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) said.

She added that satisfactory progress in the peace process is also important.

Managed expectations

Finland hosted this year’s donor country conference in collaboration with Afghanistan and the UN.

Due to the corona situation, the conference was held digitally.

At a similar donor country conference in 2016, the global community managed to scrape together around USD 15 billion in aid to Afghanistan.

This time, expectations have been more subdued, and sources in diplomacy say – according to the news agency DPA – that the sum will probably be lower than in 2016.

At the same time, several large donors linked new conditions to the aid, just like Norway.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has estimated that aid covers about 75% of the country’s public spending.

Peace talks

The conference takes place in what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls a turning point for Afghanistan, not least in light of the ongoing peace negotiations with the Islamist group Taliban in Doha.

At the same time, there are prospects that the United States and NATO will reduce their military presence in the country.

Søreide nevertheless believes that there is reason for cautious optimism.

“A peaceful solution is crucial for sustainable development, and our support will be assessed in the light of progress in the Afghan peace negotiations,” she added.

EU aid

The EU stated that the organization would provide EUR 1.2 billion in aid to Afghanistan over the next five years.

“Our assistance will support the Afghan authorities’ goals of democracy, sustainable development and modernization, help lift people out of poverty, improve governance, reduce corruption, and improve the daily lives of Afghans,” EU Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen said.

The EU has also made support conditional on the peace process, but Brussels also warned against making aid a political instrument.

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NRK: Large parts of Oslo Airport Gardermoen to be closed due to the pandemic

 

Large parts of Oslo Airport Gardermoen are closed due to the pandemic, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reports. The number of passengers has dropped dramatically.

According to NRK, Avinor has decided to close Pier Nord, which includes both domestic and international traffic, and the entire eastern part of the departure hall. 

The closure will take place “in a short time.”

“Firstly, we will operate the airport with one runway now that we are alternating between the two that we have. 

“In addition, we will now close down half of the departure hall, so only the newest part will be open in the future. 

“Passengers will experience it by seeing that we set up walls and physically closed this part of the terminal,” airport director Stine Ramstad Westby noted.

Sharp drop in traffic

The corona pandemic has led to a sharp drop in passengers in 2020. 

According to Westby, they will end up with just under 10 million passengers this year, compared to 29 million in 2019. 

Last week, traffic figures showed that the decrease in the number of passengers was 86% compared to the same week the year before.

The airport director fears mass redundancies in the spring.

“I think we are facing a tough winter, with low traffic – especially abroad,” Westby told NRK.

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Norwegian wins bankruptcy protection in Ireland

 

Norwegian has won High Court protection from creditors for its key Irish subsidiaries as the carrier begins the latest bid to salvage its struggling operations.

Justice Michael Quinn appointed KPMG partner, Kieran Wallace, as interim examiner to Irish-based Norwegian Air International, Arctic Aviation Assets DAC and three other companies.

The Irish subsidiaries named their parent, Norwegian Air Shuttle, as a related company.

The court granted a total of six entities interim protection from their creditors.

The case is due back before Quinn on December 7th.

Norwegian Air went to the Irish High Court as its subsidiaries there hold most of its aircraft.

Jacob Schram, chief executive of Norwegian, argued that seeking Irish court protection to re-organise the business would benefit workers, customers and shareholders.

“Our aim is to find solutions with our stakeholders that will allow us to emerge as a financially stronger and secure airline,” he added.

The purpose of the process is to reduce debt, downsize the fleet and secure new capital.

The process is estimated to take up to five months.

Norwegian said it planned to operate its route network (currently limited due to the Covid-19 situation) and trade as normal on the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs).

Schram added: “Our intent is clear - we will emerge from this process as a more financially secure and competitive airline, with a new financial structure, a rightsized fleet and improved customer offering.”

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Courtesy Breaking Travel News

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Norwegians driving more during coronavirus pandemic, survey shows

One in three Norwegians are driving their cars more often during the coronavirus pandemic due to the risk of infection on public transport, a survey shows.

In a survey conducted by YouGov for the insurance company Tryg in October, 34% of Norwegians answered that they drive a car more often than before.

“Many people prefer to drive a car now to avoid the risk of infection on public transport, which the authorities also encourage.

“But the numbers vary greatly between cities and the country,” communications consultant Torbjørn Brandeggen in Tryg noted.

In Oslo, as much as 50% are driving more now than before.

At the same time, less than 20% of people in more rural areas answered that they drive more.

In Troms and Finnmark, only 13% answered that they drive more often than before.

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1.5 million Norwegians spent a night outdoors during the summer, survey shows

OSLO, NOV 2020 - According to an August study from Ipsos, many Norwegians slept in tents, hammocks, or under the night sky this summer.

In the survey, 34% of the respondents answered that they spent the night outside during the summer. 

That corresponds to almost 1.5 million people, according to the organization Norsk Friluftsliv.

“Nature and outdoor life are popular like never before. 

“This is not the first survey that indicates that we Norwegians are crazy about the outdoors,” Lasse Heimdal of Norsk Friluftsliv noted in a press release in August.

The survey from Ipsos was based on 1,008 interviews with people aged 15 and up. 

Children who have spent the night outside were not included.

Summer visits at DNT cabins in Oslo down 40% 

However, several DNT cabins in Oslo and the surrounding area will probably report a loss this year after having 40,000 fewer guests this summer compared to a normal season.

“This summer, around 60,000 people visited the 21 cabins of DNT Oslo and the surrounding area – compared to 100,000 in a normal summer season. 

“Several tourist cabins report that they are expecting a loss this year,” Henning Hoff Wikborg told newspaper Nationen at the time.

Although there has been a lot of demand, the coronavirus situation has led to restrictions on how many guests the tourist cabins can have at a given time.

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