This week, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide is bringing together peace mediators, diplomats, and parties to a number of ongoing wars and conflicts at the Oslo Forum.

Who is participating and what is being discussed will, at best, become known afterwards, NTB reports.

– This is not a field in which we seek maximum attention, says Barth Eide.

The Oslo Forum has been held every year since 2003, always behind closed doors. Barth Eide believes that secrecy is a prerequisite for the forum to function.

– What actually makes Norway relevant is that the parties trust that we do not leak confidential information, he says.

The Foreign Minister will neither be able nor willing to say off the top of his head how many international conflicts Norwegian diplomats and peace mediators are currently involved in.

– It is a little difficult to say, and there are also some processes that are not yet public, he says, adding:

– There are also some ongoing processes that are positive, but we cannot talk about them now.

NOK 395 million

Norwegian peace diplomacy has been the subject of criticism following the Epstein case and the support provided to international think tanks such as the International Peace Institute.

Barth Eide rejects the criticism.

– Sylvi Listhaug talks about billions of kroner, but we spend NOK 395 million on direct peace work. That is 0.68 per cent of the aid budget, he says.

Eide further points to the grain agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 as an example of successful Norwegian peace diplomacy.

– That agreement came about following preliminary talks at the Oslo Forum, he says.