Tale på næringslivsseminar i Beiijing

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Your Majesties,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to be here in Beijing. I would like to thank Innovation Norway and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade for hosting this event.

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The official visit by Prime Minister Solberg in April 2017 was a great success. It laid the foundation for strengthened trade and economic cooperation with China. This visit marked another important milestone. The Prime Minister was accompanied by the largest business delegation from Norway to any country ever.

Now, with the State Visit, we acknowledge that contacts and relations have developed and matured, and the cooperation between our countries has moved to another level. We used to sell raw material and buy cheap consumer goods – now Norwegian and Chinese companies are also partners in technology development and knowledge exchange.

 

The business delegation visiting from Norway is made up of more than 300 representatives from Norwegian companies. This beats the all time high from the previous visit and reflects the immense and growing interest from Norwegian companies to develop cooperation with Chinese partners and expand their activities in China. Several agreements and contracts will be signed during the visit, some of them here today.

We have been looking forward to this visit. One of the reasons for this is because we look forward to promoting Norwegian-Chinese cooperation and to opening doors for businesses, in support of this initiative.

A well-functioning rules-based multilateral trading system, open markets, and reduces barriers to trade.This is important to achieve and obtain economic growth. As Minister for Trade and Industry you may think I am committed to say this. However, this is indeed my own and honest opinion.

To the benefit of the world economy and to achieve free trade, it is important that nations pay close attention to each other, that we pay each other regular visits and that we seek to achieve mutual understanding of possible cultural and political obstacles.

China is extremely important for  world trade. As a result, China is an important player for Norwegian companies reaching out to new and foreign markets. We all know how important the Chinese market is to Norwegian seafood and the maritime sector. In addition, technology and knowledge based industries are increasingly looking to China for partnerships.

We are currently negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement. I believe this trade agreement will be a significant contribution to our bilateral relations and a testament to our friendship. I am pleased that important progress was made during our negotiations here in Beijing in September.

A free trade- agreement is an important signal of the need for openness and economic cooperation in times when we see increasing signs of protectionism in global trade. It will also be an important testament to our countries' commitment to free trade.

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Today's seminar is the first of a number of bilateral business activities during the State Visit, here in Beijing, and later this week in Shanghai. I feel confident that this visit will bring about even more partnerships and closer cooperation between our countries. I wish us all a fruitful seminar and a succesful visit!

 

Thank you for your attention!