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
A young Northern Irish student has shared the stories of her deep connection to Chinese culture during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, which landed on Tuesday, highlighting the global reach of the many celebrated Chinese traditions.
In the heart of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Kiva, a second-year economics student at Ulster University, had been busy preparing various activities to celebrate the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.
One of her top priorities was heading out shopping to buy some mooncakes, which are seen as the most representative specialty food of the festival which centers around family reunions and appreciating the full moon.
"So these are our eight delicious-looking mooncakes. They are beautiful. They're very tiny, keeping you fit," said Kiva, as she proudly showed off the box of her newly-purchased mooncakes.
After wandering around a local Chinese supermarket, she excitedly recounted her journey of learning Chinese and her fascination with the country's rich traditions.
"The most intriguing part for me was the calligraphy. It was definitely the characters. I really, really did love the characters. It was just very, very interesting to see, and to see that and see it made into an art form as well, where calligraphy is used as like a cultural aspect. It was just very, very beautiful and I wish that everybody had more interest in it, and wasn't really put off by how difficult it was," she said.
The difficulty of learning the language did not stop her love of Chinese characters. In her eyes, each character is vibrant and full of life, and she singled out the characters for "flower" and "love" as being her two favorites, saying that their complexity is what makes them beautiful.
Earlier this year, Kiva joined a university-organized trip to China, and was deeply struck by the stark contrasts between the bustling modernity of Beijing and the deep-rooted traditions of the central Hubei Province. However, the highlight of her whole trip was visiting the Great Wall, an experience she had long dreamed of.
"Going to The Great Wall was actually one of the things that I really wanted to do because none of my parents had ever been to China, so it was one of their things that they wanted to do as well, they wanted to see The Great Wall. So I think in the afternoon in China it's like 2 or 3 a.m. here, and I called my dad at at 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning, just because I wanted to show him The Great Wall," said Kiva.
Flipping through old photos, Kiva recalled her first connection with China as a child, when her mother bought her a traditional Chinese qipao gown during a shopping trip. During her recent visit to China, she also sought out another traditional outfit to wear and posed for a photograph to capture the moment.
"I think it's just one of those parts of the culture that you are just not going to get in any other part, like you can always do calligraphy anywhere else, right? You can always learn the language somewhere else, but having the opportunity to try on the traditional dress, when it means so much to the culture and it's people I think is very, very important to me especially," she said.
Northern Irish student shares love of Chinese culture during Mid-Autumn Festival
