The close relationship between South Africa and Norway dates back to the pre-freedom years, when Norway actively supported groups opposing the apartheid regime. In the 1990s, a new era of cooperation in higher education and research was initiated, both bilaterally and multilaterally, including a number of joint projects between South African and Norwegian higher education institutions. From 2002, through 2017, a series of bilateral research cooperation programs have provided support for 86 joint research projects. The foruth program in this series, SANOCEAN, will start in early 2018 and run through 2023.
Since 2013, South Africa and Norway have been conducting annual high-level bilateral consultations to identify areas of common political and economic interest.Following the launching of Operation Phakisa, South Africa and Norway re-confirmed their mutual interest in exploring opportunities for development of ocean space and the “blue” economy, including the maritime sector, marine resources, and aquaculture. The two countries have further agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation on the environment and to explore opportunities in the area of renewable energies.
Team Norway is a partnership between Innovation Norway, The Research Council of Norway, Norwegian Centre for International Corporation in Education and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More information is available on our fact sheet
