The Norwegian Ambassador to the Council of Europe, his Excellency Torbjørn Frøysnes, has just hosted a reception in honour of the Norwegian Presidency for 2006 of the European Audiovisual Observatory. This reception took place on the 7th of March at the Ambassador’s Strasbourg residence.
23/11/2007 ::
Mr Frøysnes expressed his satisfaction that Norway held the Presidency of a "fine and forward-thinking institution" and praised the work of the Observatory in what he pointed out to be an industrial sector of major economic importance.
This reception was the occasion for the Norwegian Presidency, represented by Mr Nils Klevjer Aas, Senior Advisor to the Norsk Filmfond, to outline the strategy and priorities of this Presidency. Mr Klevjer Aas described the setting up of the Observatory in 1992 as "a far-sighted act ". He stated that the work of the Observatory has come to represent "the established benchmark of pertinent and precise information on the audiovisual sector in Europe".
Mr Klevjer Aas emphasised the considerable changes which have taken place in the audiovisual industries since the creation of the Observatory in terms of technology, financing and the way in which we consume audiovisual content. He stated that "the questions thrown up by these new developments literally cry out for some over-arching and penetrating perspectives, something that the Observatory is precisely designed and established to provide."
He therefore declared that the object of the Norwegian Presidency was to enable the Observatory to meet these new information challenges by expanding to cover two new key areas of the audiovisual economy: tax and labour law, and new media. He recalled that the decision to enable the Observatory cover these two new areas was taken by the Observatory’s Executive Council under the Finnish Presidency of 2003. It would be main objective of the 2006 Norwegian Presidency, he said, to implement this decision. He concluded by emphasising the Observatory’s "track record for factual excellence".
In a statement following the reception, Mr Wolfgang Closs, Executive Director of the European Audiovisual Observatory, expressed his thanks to the Norwegian Presidency for their support and their hosting of this reception. He was delighted that this reception allowed members of the Observatory’s team to meet the members of the Norwegian delegation as well as a large number of the Permanent representatives of the Observatory’s member States. He underlined the necessity of developing the Observatory in the coming years following the strategic objectives defined in the Observatory’s Action Plan for 2006 – 2008. He stated that in the modern internet age the Observatory has set itself the challenge, in the face of such rapidly changing information needs, to expand its fields of competence and the information it provides.