Exploring The NORDIC REGION...
Student Text Page No. 3: "Tomorrow's Challenge"

Space-age satellites over the Nordic Region are busy these days. Danes, Finns, Icelanders, Norwegians, and Swedes use them to track Japanese stock prices, downlink real-time photos from Iraq, order coffee beans from Colombia, and generally stay in touch with friends and clients around the world. No doubt about it: Nordic people are digitally linked to the rest of the global community….

And the links keep multiplying. Spurred by a global trend toward service industries, Nordic nations have adopted information and communications technologies (ICT) in a big way. Broadband access to the Internet is widespread and allows Nordic governments, businesses, and individuals to exchange data rapidly. Other societies use ICT, too. But the Nordic Region has an edge. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked all five nations among the world's top 10 "networked economies," with Denmark in first place.

Working hard. More than 1,000 years ago, voyagers from the Nordic Region launched daring sea voyages, seeking trade in distant lands. Today, the region's industries serve a global marketplace. With a combined population of only 24.7 million, the five countries have to work hard to deliver quality products and services worldwide. And they succeed. In 2007, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland held 3 of the top 10 rankings for world competitiveness. And the per-capita incomes in all five Nordic nations were among the top 15 percent in the world…. But Nordic people don't take such success lightly. They know that using fossil fuels to power up a modern economy also contributes to air pollution and climate change. Responding to that threat, all five nations are investing in new, clean, renewable sources of power: solar energy in Norway, geothermal energy in Iceland, biofuels in Finland and Sweden, and wind energy in Denmark.

Reaching out. Shared climate concerns and trade are not the only links between the Nordic Region and the global community. These five nations also have a terrific record for helping other countries: Sweden, Norway, and Denmark rank first, third, and fifth worldwide in the percent of gross national income that they devote to foreign aid (2006). The region is a big financial supporter of the UN's Millennium Development Goals — targeting world poverty, disease, and illiteracy. And Nordic leaders repeatedly share their skills in peacemaking and rehabilitation with war-torn societies, such as Afghanistan.

Alone, or together? "In unity lies strength." The governments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden agreed with that old adage when they formed the Nordic Council in the 1950s. The Council helps them to cooperate in many areas — in high-tech education, for example, and in the conservation of Baltic Sea fishing beds. The group also collaborates with other northern nations on such matters as protecting the resource-rich Arctic Zone. But the Nordic nations still make foreign-policy decisions independently. Thus, only Denmark, Iceland, and Norway belong to the mutual-defense pact known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And only Denmark, Finland, and Sweden have joined the European Union (EU). Indeed, this balance between national independence and mutual cooperation may be one of the region's strengths.

Regional Matters. As Nordic nations prepare for the future, they face big issues: Can their small populations continue to sustain the region's vigorous economies — and the generous welfare programs they support? Would it be better for all five countries to belong to the EU and NATO (both of which are still expanding)? As we observe how the Nordic countries deal with such issues, we can also examine these critical questions: What kind of benefits do neighboring countries enjoy when they work together? What are the most useful links a region can develop with the rest of the global community?