Norway officially became the seventh Associate Member Country of SEAMEO on March 15, 2005 during the 40th SEAMEO Council Conference held in Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Upon the invitation of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam in 2004, Norway expressed willingness to be a SEAMEO Associate Member. Since then, it has cooperated with Vietnam in development efforts to improve education for minorities and disadvantaged groups.

Cooperation between the two countries began in May 2004 when a Vietnamese delegation led by Vice Minister Dang Huynh Mai visited Norway. The delegation met with school authorities at different administrative levels who told them how Norwegian schools are trying to meet the needs of pupils with different ethnic backgrounds. The delegation also visited rural areas with multi-grade schools put up so that children need not travel long distances to go to school. The visit was followed up by a joint seminar in Hanoi as part of the Norwegian King and Queen’s visit to Vietnam in November 2004.

Currently, Norway is supporting the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Programme in Socialist Republic of Vietnam, under which the Ministry of Education and Training is reaching out to 215 poor districts in 40 provinces. Norway is also supporting specific projects on education for ethnic minorities, and in schools in flood-prone areas.

While continuing and further developing its fruitful bilateral cooperation with Socialist Republic of Vietnam and other countries of the South East Asian Region, Norway looks forward to be part of the regional cooperation within SEAMEO.

SEAMEO and Norway have a good cooperation so far in education. One example is the participation of the International Council for Distance Education and Open Learning (ICDE) based in Oslo, Norway as an Affiliate Member of SEAMEO since 1999.