World editor Jane Bradley speaks to Icelandic president, Guoni Johannesson, in Edinburgh.

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm Jane Bradley, World Editor of the Scotsman, and I'm here today with Gudný

00:04 Johannesson who is the President of Iceland who is here in Edinburgh.

00:09 Hi.

00:10 Hi.

00:11 Thanks so much for taking time to speak to us today.

00:13 My pleasure.

00:14 I just wondered if you could tell me a little bit about what you are doing in Edinburgh.

00:18 I understand you're meeting the First Minister.

00:20 Yes, well we're here on a visit to strengthen yet further the good relationship that exists

00:28 between these two neighbours, the Icelanders and their good friends in Scotland.

00:34 Furthermore, Iceland celebrates 80 years of independence this summer, and it just so happens

00:45 that there are pieces of tapestry here at the National Museum from Iceland purchased

00:53 by a Scottish tourist in the 1830s that used to be a house that housed the Parliament of

01:08 Iceland and then the only proper school in the country in the 19th century.

01:13 So the good people at the National Museum were kind enough to lend us those pieces of

01:21 tapestry for the summer and we came here, myself, my wife, Minister of Culture and Commerce,

01:30 and had a lovely discussion with the people there.

01:36 So that's one part of the visit, and in general just to also look at ways to increase yet

01:44 further the good relationship that already exists in terms of trade, culture, education,

01:51 so on.

01:52 So what do you see as the main connections between Iceland and Scotland?

01:57 Well you can look back in time and see how the Norse travelled first from Scandinavia

02:07 and then on to the British Isles in Scotland and then onwards to Iceland, so we have a

02:12 historic connection there.

02:13 I remember vividly when I went by the ferry from the Faroe Islands to Thurso and then

02:20 onwards to Vík in Keifnes or Þórsávík, Katanes, these are all Icelandic names, so

02:30 there is a connection there.

02:32 And we're neighbours.

02:35 We in Iceland, we're in the middle of the North Atlantic, our most immediate neighbours

02:39 are the Greenlanders and the Faroe Islanders, but then you, up here, or down here in Scotland.

02:45 Take Sutherland, that's southern land, even though it's in the most northern tip of Scotland,

02:52 that's because Scotland was and is part of this region in the North Atlantic and we should

03:00 just foster all kinds of connections between these two countries.

03:07 Fantastic, well thank you so much and enjoy the rest of your trip.

03:11 Thank you so much.

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