Norway welcomed Tuesday the announcement that Colombian authorities and the leftist rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were to hold peace talks next month. “It takes courage to seek peace. I would like to commend the parties for entering into a dialogue that could bring an end to the protracted armed conflict in Colombia,” Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a statement. The parties were to meet in the Norwegian capital of Oslo during the first half of October, he said.