Iceland review - 2004, Síða 77

REYKJAVÍK – PURE ENERGY / 75
vide quality education, its hospitals must provide top-rate medical facilities and
the city must solve environmental problems. However, Reykjavík’s small size gives
it a major advantage over larger cities when it comes to providing services.
Reykjavík has a smaller bureaucracy. In other words, the “red tape” is not so sticky.
Reykjavík provides its people with services that are in many ways more advanced
than most Western capitals. Because Reykjavík is so successful, foreign tech-
nocrats and politicians seek the city’s advice on a host of issues, from how to run
a kindergarten to how to manage homes for the elderly.
“We can sell this information to other cities, not just expertise in the field of
energy, but also social fields,” says Skúlason.
And that’s just what Reykjavík Resources is doing. The company has established
a program to bring politicians and technocrats over to Iceland in order to see
first hand how Reykjavík manages its affairs. The program was supposed to
begin in the fall. However, the demand for information is so hot that the mayor
of the northern Chinese city of Harbin will arrive in Reykjavík this May for a
Reykjavík tour.
While a profitable flow of information outward is one result, the program is sure
to have ancillary benefits, such as an increase in tourism, and future cultural
exchanges. Most important, it will draw more and more attention to this small
capital, highlighting Reykjavík’s spot on the map.
For more information on Reykjavík Resources,
log on to www.reykjavikresources.com
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