Barely three months after Narendra Modi made the first visit to Norway by an Indian prime minister in 43 years, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stood beside Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Thursday as the latter briefed him on Pakistan’s position that Jammu and Kashmir “remains one of the longstanding unresolved international disputes.”
Mr Eide also described Islamabad’s mediation as a “massive task” and said the work of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Mr Dar and Field Marshal Asim Munir amounted to a “service to the world.”
Norway had already declared full support for Pakistan-led mediation in April. Coming from a country that has invested decades in peace facilitation, from the Oslo process to Colombia and several other conflicts, such praise carries considerably more weight than routine diplomatic courtesy.
Norway is a founding NATO member, a close American ally and one of Europe’s consequential maritime and energy powers. Its foreign minister discussed regional security and expanding defence engagement at GHQ, while also expressing interest in Pakistan’s new trilateral defence arrangement with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye–three states with which, he noted, Norway maintains close relations. Pakistan’s growing diplomatic profile is acquiring something more useful than favourable headlines: access across political and security establishments.
Mr Dar also noted that Pakistan’s IT exports to Norway have increased more than fivefold in two years, even as bilateral trade remains well below potential. Cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, Norwegian expertise in shipping and maritime regulation, skilled-labour pathways and existing commercial links such as Yara’s partnership with Fauji Fertiliser offer considerably more substance. Mr Eide also described Norway’s Pakistani diaspora as an argument for deeper economic ties.
Pakistan has lately demonstrated that diplomatic usefulness can reopen doors once considered difficult to enter. The greater prize now lies in turning political access into investment, trade and sustained international attention to Pakistan’s own concerns.
