Open and creative capital: city strategy for international cooperation

The city’s international policy is described in the 2002 city council white paper ”Strategy for the international cooperation of City of Oslo”. International impulses and benchmarking – especially within Europe and the Nordic region – contributes to development of the city as a provider of services, as a living and vibrant city and as an attractive place for business investments. In the government parliamentary whitepaper on the role and function of the capital – The Open and Creative Capital (2007) – the city’s function as the gateway for immigration of skilled workers is stressed (in accordance with the writings of Richard Florida on the role of the creative class). The international strategy is pursued through agreements of cooperation, through international organizations, through networks and projects and through visits and international profiling. The themes of integration, diversity and tolerance are important to organizations and networks such as Eurocities, Metropolic, ECCAR and the Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Cooperation, as well as to agreements with cities as Gothenburg and St. Petersburg. There is an International Office in City Hall, and the city administration is represented within EU by its European Office in Brussels. In recent years, the city of Oslo has been profiled as a city of peace and tolerance, through the Nobel Peace Center and the new Wergeland Center – COE’s European Center for intercultural dialogue.