Investment Forum: Doing business in Norway. Shanghai, 11 May 2017. Opening speech by Øyvind Stokke, Consul General of Norway in Shanghai
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Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
It is a great pleasureto welcome you all to the third investment forum of this kindhere in Shanghai, hosted and organized by Wikborg Rein, Infima, and now also DNB, three pillars of the Sino-Norwegian business community.
The headlines should be very topical, important and relevant for many businesses: the subsea sector, oil and gas, the seafood industry, the healthcare sector, and transactions.
Now, I have three short points to share with you.
First, the momentum, or the timing, could not have been better for this event. In December last year, the relations between Norway and China were normalized. In April, we had the biggest delegation ever of Norwegian businesses in China, accompanying the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Trade Minister. And we see every day, in my job, that all doors are open to Chinese authorities on all levels. In these days, the talks on afree trade agreement between Norway and Chine are resumed.
This is a new situation compared to one year ago. It will provide companies with a better climate and basis for doing business. And, at my office, we are alsohelping local government officials making study tours to Norway, learning about our taxsystem, or about traffic and electric cars, or cultural heritage, among other things. China look to Norway.
Second, the investment seminar is part of a bigger picture:there is now a growing interest from Chinese companies to invest in Norway and to do business with Norwegian partners. These investments and the increased cooperation may create economic growth and maintain jobs, hopefully, and thisis very positive, in a larger picture.
Norway and Chinahave a comprehensive economic cooperation in terms of trade and so there is a platform to build on. China is an important trading partner for Norway. However, our ambition should be to widen and deepen these bilateral ties. China’s weight and influence in Asia andin the global economy is growing, as we all know well.
Last year, Norway’s trade with China in goodsamounted to more than 10 billion USD. China is our third largest import market for goods, accounting for more than 10 percent of Norway’s total imports. And the trade in services added 1,7 billion USD.
In 2016, the value of total investments by the Norwegian Pension Fund in China reached almost 18billion USD, spread out in more than 500 companies. The fund has their head office in Shanghai.
Third, I wouldlike to add to the backdrop of China-Norway relationsthat there are around 180 Norwegian companies in China, two thirds of them here in the Shanghai region. Many of them in the maritime, offshore and seafood sectors – or in the ocean economy as we may call it.
Then, we see a growing number of Chinese companies in Norway, and there are, in the education field, more than 700 Chinese students in Norway, and there is also a fast growing number of Chinese tourists travelling to Norway. The total number of visa applicants to my office increased with 35 percent last year; we issued more than 31.000 visas to Chinese, mostly tourists. We expect the numbers to continue rising; I can see that the numbers increased by 15 percent now in April,compared to the record month of April last year. Now we receive 400-500 every day. This is a very welcoming trend. One year a Chinese may come to Norway as a student or a tourist, then later as working in a company or as a scholar, with a project or business idea in his or her luggage.
Now, to conclude, stating the obvious: The Norwegian Government welcomes more foreign investments. The timing for you is good.For many years, Norway’s prosperity and growth were dependent on Norwegian companies doing things well offshore and abroad. Now, our economy is more and more dependent on how we are able to promote Norway as an attractive partner and location for investments, business, technology development, education and research. We need skills, talents and investments in many sectors, such as subsea, offshore, seafood, healthcare and other areas. Norway’s economy will have to be more knowledge based, with innovation communities as its core. This, we cannot do alone.
Now, with these words, my credits go to Wikborg Rein, Infima and DNB, and I wish you all welcome to the Investment Forum. Thank you.