Chamber and committees

I echo Dr Allan’s comments about how we want to strengthen those opportunities. Obviously, it is for Scottish Government and UK Government ministers to take forward those wishes.

Thank you very much for your attendance—

Ambassador, you mentioned the free movement of people. Obviously, Scotland finds itself outside the European Union now, which presents challenges to our young people in terms of opportunities for free movement, studying abroad and linking up with other youth organisations. I know that that was a real priority at the Nordic Council, and I believe that you define young people as being those up to the age of 28. Is that right?

Absolutely.

Good morning. I offer a very warm welcome to the 11th meeting in 2023 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. We have apologies from Jenni Minto MSP. I am sure that that means that she will leave our committee shortly. I thank Jenni for her service to the committee, and I wish her the best in her ministerial role, assuming that Parliament passes the motion on junior Scottish ministers this afternoon. We send our best wishes to our colleague. Donald Cameron MSP, our deputy convener, joins us remotely.

Our first agenda item is to take evidence from His Excellency Sturla Sigurjónsson, Ambassador of Iceland to the United Kingdom, on the priorities of the Icelandic presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2023. I invite the ambassador to make a short opening statement.

Reflecting on the awards ceremony, I found it absolutely amazing. It was broadcast throughout the whole Nordic region, and the audience that it had in those countries was quite spectacular. I thoroughly enjoyed that. It is our literature and our music that speak to peace, so it was very welcome to see that at the time.

Well, since you mentioned the importance of free movement of people, I wondered what the council’s priorities are for your youth in the Nordic countries and what opportunities you see being opened up by further integration and free movement.

We move into private session for our final agenda item.

We wish you all the best for that conference and, indeed, for the peace conference later in the year. We will watch with interest. I hope that this is not the last time that you will be able to come and update the committee on your work. Thank you very much for your attendance this morning.

Thank you very much. Our Scottish Government is prioritising improving links with the Nordic region and recently opened its Nordic office in Copenhagen. The Scottish Parliament has also engaged with the Nordic Council recently; indeed, the Presiding Officer, one of my fellow committee conveners and I attended the Nordic Council in Helsinki. I found it very informative and interesting. I particularly liked the session with the ministers from the countries that were represented there. The interaction between the delegates and ministers was amazing.

My colleagues will ask a little bit about the situation with Ukraine. I will ask a question about cultural co-operation. The council has an awards ceremony that recognises, for example, literature, music and film. How do you see the cultural links between Scotland and the Nordic region improving? We have been trying to support as much as we can the Ukrainian Institute London to support the culture of Ukraine. We have 26,000 refugees here. What is the Nordic Council of Ministers doing to support the cultural protection of Ukraine at this time, when its language, artefacts, museums and cultural centres are being destroyed in the war?

I will be attending an interparliamentary forum tomorrow in Westminster.