Oslo will host "Peace through Trade" conference

The "2009 Summit on Peace through Trade" will be held in Oslo on May 14, sponsored by the Business for Peace Foundation of the World Trade Center in Oslo, the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, and the City of Oslo. 

The website doesn't have much information yet, so I guess we have to keep checking back to see who the speakers will be and the topics they will speak on. 

The conference theme catches my eye, because peace through trade is very much in line with the thinking behind the Bering Strait Project. A link at the Bering Strait would make it possible to connect five continents (North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa) by surface transportation modes such as railroad and (sometime in the future) highway. 

Yes, there is already trade that uses ocean shipping and air cargo. But U.S. west coast ports are clogged. If there is to be a substantial jump in trade volume, a land-based link through Alaska and Siberia will be necessary. 

Central Asian countries are among those that stand to  benefit from such a link. Land-locked countries will have a much better route to ship their goods to the NAFTA market.