Huge opportunities seen after deals inked at China, Norway business summit

Thirteen agreements have been signed between the Chinese and Norwegian governments and companies at the 2017 China-Norway Business Summit during the icebreaking visit of Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

The summit, with the theme of Creating Sustainable Solutions for a Better Future, attracted more than 900 business people from both countries.

"China is Norway's largest trading partner in Asia, and I'm glad we have normalized our political and diplomatic relations, which will bring huge opportunities to business as well as lots of job opportunities to our people," says Solberg.

"We are expecting to restart the free trade negotiations with China," she adds.

Sino-Norwegian relations suffered with the controversial Nobel Peace Prize award in 2010, and the Norwegian government has made many efforts to restore ties with the world's second-largest economy since Solberg's administration took office September 2013.

Solberg visited China from April 7 to 10 after diplomatic relations between the two countries returned to normal in December. She met President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

Xi, while meeting in Beijing with Solberg, said it is hoped that Norway will "play a more proactive role in boosting China-Nordic cooperation".

Lasting, healthy and stable bilateral ties will serve the "interests of both countries and their peoples", Xi added.

Accompanying Solberg was a large business delegation, and agreements with a total value of more than 16 billion yuan ($2.3 billion; 2.18 billion euros; 1.87 billion) for marine products, education, shipbuilding and energy were signed during the business summit.

Solberg, noting that the economy of China has developed rapidly, says the nation's business environment has become more complex and creative.

"Scale is the biggest difference between us," she says, "but we have similar goals, concerns and interests in business, which is to build a better future."

Wang Qinmin, the vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the president of the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce, says China is busy implementing the Made in China 2025 strategy, and the government encourages companies to be creative.

The economies of China and Norway are highly complementary, Wang says. China contributed over 30 percent of the world's economic increase in 2016, he notes, while Norway has a tremendous environment for innovation and research, not to mention unique advantages in the fields of shipping, fisheries, energy, environmental protection and oil and gas exploitation.

Up to December, there were 495 investment projects with investment of $620 million from Norway in China, and China invested $3.55 billion in Norway, according to Wang.

"I expect Norway will play an active role in promoting bilateral cooperation as well as China's cooperation with Northern Europe at a higher lever and in broader fields, and in promoting stable, balanced and sustainable development of the world economy," says Wang.

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group, who attended the business summit, notes that the population of Norway, which is about 5 million, is less than that of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, which is about 9 million.

"In the aspect of population, Norway is a small country, but I respect the country a lot, due to its strong culture and spirit, as well as its significant contributions to the world," Ma says.

Ma also notes that Norway is always ranked first in the Human Development Index by the United Nations Development Programme, and it has been named the happiest country in the latest World Happiness Report from the UN.

Ma and Solberg were named Sustainable Development Goals Advocates by the UN last year, and the two have met five times, in Beijing and Hangzhou, to discuss sustainable development.

"In recent years, lots of Chinese companies have started to import salmon from Norway," he says. "Still, China should import the attitude toward nature from Norway, because it could never have such healthy development and sustainable use of its ocean research without protecting the ocean."

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(China Daily European Weekly 04/14/2017 page28)