About Nora

About NORA

NORA (Nordic Atlantic Cooperation) is an intergovernmental organisation under the regional cooperation programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers that brings together Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and coastal Norway. The organisation traces its roots to 1981 and the establishment of cooperation in the west Nordic area. It adopted the name NORA when coastal Norway joined in 1996. The NORA constituents are interlinked by their location, shared traits and common challenges, in addition to multiple historical, institutional and cultural ties.

NORA contributes to reinforcing regional cooperation with the aim of making the North Atlantic a strong and dynamic part of the Nordic region that is defined by its robust sustainable economic development. NORA’s initiatives include strengthening cross-border collaboration between the private sector and research and development bodies.

The NORA Committee is made up of 12 members, three from each country in the NORA area. The Committee charts the general direction of NORA’s Strategic Programme, which usually spans a four-year period. In addition, the NORA Committee drafts an annual action plan that defines a list of specific activities for NORA to carry out.

NORA is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers with supplementary contributions from the four participating constituents. The main NORA secretariat is located in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, while four contact people staff the secretariats in Greenland, Iceland, west Norway and north Norway.

NORA operates within three set areas of work:

Project funding: NORA provides access to an important contact base in the region that makes it possible to establish critical mass in the priority areas.

Agenda setting: NORA influences the region’s agendas through strategic initiatives and project results.

Alliance building: NORA seeks to establish optimal synergy through cooperation on joint initiatives by fostering new and existing networks of stakeholders and organisations that are active in the region.

Project Funding

NORA offers funding opportunities to specific cooperation projects involving partners from at least two NORA constituents. NORA, as an organisation, is not a project partner, but we can offer financial support if a project is deemed to contribute to achieving the aims described in our Strategic Programme. There is a general focus on strengthening collaboration between the private sector and other stakeholders in NORA’s four constituents.

NORA has two funding rounds each year. Read more about NORA project funding.

Strategic Initiatives

NORA initiates and participates in strategic projects that contribute to furthering cooperation between the four constituents of the NORA area: the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and coastal Norway. This work includes organising conferences and initiating analyses of key regional issues. NORA was, for example, involved in an OECD analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the area.

NORA can also function as an administrative body or secretariat for relevant initiatives, such as the Nordic Council of Ministers’ 2015-2017 project, Growth in the Blue Bioeconomy.

NORA channels relevant information to residents of the North Atlantic region. News articles produced in-house are published on the NORA website, and we regularly post recommendations about regional news items and events on Facebook and Twitter.