Nordic Norway Notes Slight Cite Slight as Scandinavian Sister Sweden

Ingrid Fiskaa, Norway's State Secretary for the Environment and International Development, denounced the World Bank for its apparent ignorance at the difference between the major donor country and the Kingdom of Sweden.

"Never before has a country with such an interest been treated in such a way," Fiskaa said. "We're quite insulted that the World Bank can't tell the difference between Norway and Sweden."

At a working group session of the Haiti Reconstruction Conference, Dhruv Malhotra of the World Bank -- apparently giddy that his organization's proposal has been widely adopted -- accidentally referred to Fiskaa's delegation as Swedish.

The Norwegian delegation speaking at the opening plenary on Thursday. State Secretary Fiskaa (left) is offended by the World Bank's word blunder.

At the opening plenary, Fiskaa noted that Norway has provided $35 million in emergency relief to Haiti and pledged $100M more to long-term recovery. It is a pledging donor to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund and a board member of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC).  Sweden -- which is not on the IHRC board -- has only committed $54 million to Haiti.

Despite this slight, Fiskaa remains undeterred.

"Nevertheless, this won't stop us from doing work for the betterment of Haiti," she said.