Visit From Australian Ambassador

The Australian Ambassador to Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, Her excellency Kerin Ayyalaraju, and Australian international relations expert and former diplomat Mr Ian Kemish visited The University of Bergen and The Department of Social Anthropology on Monday the 15th of May. 

HE Kerin Ayyalaraju and Ian Kemish met with the rectorate and were a part of a seminar hosted by the Bergen Pacific Studies research group.

“I’m glad to be supporting some dialogue on Indo-Pacific issues. The University of Bergen has very strong credentials in our part of the world, and we are delighted to spend some time talking about that collaboration, providing a perspective on what is happening in the Indo-Pacific, but also learning from the expertise that is here,” Ian Kemish said. 

An Interface Between University and Dimplomacy

Mr Kemish held a presentation on recent developments in the Asia-Pacific region and discussed global implications. Global politics and diplomacy, the regions of Asia and Oceania, foreign policy analysis, and maritime governance was on the agenda.  

Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, and the founding director of the Bergen Pacific Studies Research Group, Edvard Hviding, pointed out that this initiative took place across diplomacy and university and research. 

“We saw this as a great opportunity to profile this interface between the university and the diplomacy,” Hviding said. 

Areas of Mutual Interest

This year Australia celebrates their 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Norway. HE Kerin Ayyalaraju pointed out all the areas of mutual interest that the two countries have. 

“One of them is obviously our long and unique history of cooperation in Antarctic and Arctic regions. But I think perhaps the Indo-Pacific might be a new one,” she said.