Norway is looking forward to deepening trade and cultural exchanges with China, said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in an interview with China Media Group on Tuesday.
Store made the remarks during an interview on a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai, during his official visit to China from Monday to Wednesday. He expressed hopes that China and Norway can further step up economic and trade cooperation.
"There are many companies in Norway trading with China. I did not want to bring a huge delegation, but a smaller delegation of very representative companies. So here you have, for example, Yara, which is the world's leading producer of fertilizer. You have Kongsberg Maritime, which is one of the leading technological companies of Norway, providing equipment for modern ships. So they have to work with their partners to find opportunities. Most of the companies in Norway they live from export and also from import. So of course, China, as a growing economy, our largest partner in Asia, I wish to see safe and secure collaboration," he said
Store believes that China and Norway have massive potential for cooperation in key areas of marine resources, such as seafood imports and exports.
"If you speak of Norway, you talk about coast, ocean, maritime, nation. My country has the second largest coastline in the world. It means that a large part of our business opportunities stem from the coast, from the ocean. So I think this is a prime source. For example, now coming to Shanghai, I will go and visit Norwegian factors who do export or fish. Salmon is a very important product, now coming to China, providing Chinese consumers with salmon," said Store.
Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Norway, Store expects more cooperation and cultural exchanges with China in the future.
"I wish to see trade. I wish to see especially that we support them into these green technologies, the green transition. I wish to see students that can exchange, and that we can also meet at the big international venues where we need to find common solutions together again. Again, China is a big country, Norway is a smaller country. We are, this year, a partner country at the G20. So when President Lula will host the G20 in Rio in November, we will have an opportunity there to work as Norway with some of these major players," said Store.

Norwegian PM looking forward to more trade, exchanges with China