Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt spoke to CGTN’s Aljosa Milenkovic about the friendship between his country and China.
#china #norway
#china #norway
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00:00Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway, Andres Kovic, thank you very much for speaking to CGTN.
00:05Thank you very much for the opportunity.
00:06How much Norway actually contributed to increasing relations between China and Europe?
00:13Well, I think it's important for international stability that Europe and China has a robust and solid relationship.
00:20So we have tried to facilitate that.
00:22We have a similar relationship to China as that of the EU.
00:27Our relationship and our strategy towards China, again, is very similar to that of the EU.
00:34So we have decided that we want to collaborate with China on a whole host of issues.
00:39We don't think that any global problem can be resolved without the participation of China.
00:45And we have a very robust trading relationship with China.
00:50We see China as important, as I said, in order to sustain multilateralism, in order to reform the UN,
00:55in order to achieve all these important results, in order to ensure that we can have a global community
01:04based on prosperity and based on international law and the UN.
01:08And that requires us to collaborate very closely with China.
01:14But of course, Norway is one state amongst many states in Europe.
01:18So we will coordinate very closely with our European partners.
01:21In March this year, you visited China.
01:23You were in Beijing.
01:24You were in Hong Kong.
01:26And I will quote what you mentioned on the social media,
01:29that only a few countries are more relevant to visit in today's geopolitical situation, referring to China.
01:34So how do you perceive China's evolving role in international relations?
01:39Well, I think no matter how you describe it, China has a very important role to play at the world stage.
01:45It's the world's second largest economy.
01:48It is important, again, as I said, to sustain the UN, to sustain international stability.
01:54So I think visiting China is critically important for us.
01:57We've had the prime minister visiting.
01:58We've had the foreign minister visiting.
02:00Myself and other members of the cabinet have visited.
02:03And for us, it's clear that no problem, no challenge can be overcome without the participation of China.
02:11So we think it's critical that we maintain a very close relationship with China,
02:16that we understand the Chinese thinking around certain issues, be it the environmental crisis,
02:21be it other types of crises, also where we have different opinions.
02:25Having said that, we have a compartmentalized relationship to China.
02:29So we are capable of having issues of disagreement on the one hand,
02:34but also having very strong partnerships on the other hand.
02:38China is among top import partners for Norway.
02:42Other way around is not the case, because Norway's exports to China are not as huge.
02:48So how do you think that can change?
02:52How do you see the future of bilateral trade relations between the two countries?
02:57Well, I think that's one of the areas where we really want to see more activity.
03:00There is already significant activity, and things are moving, I think, in the right direction.
03:06When you look at the core industries in Norway that are relevant for China,
03:12we are making lots of progress, lots of Norwegian businesses are, in fact, exporting to China,
03:18and also importing from China.
03:20I think last year we had China being the most important,
03:25or the third most important market for our sea products,
03:28and that's important for us, as you know, we're a seafaring nation.
03:31I see that the popularity of Chinese EVs is huge here.
03:36I read somewhere that it is over 11% of the entire EV market here is taken by the Chinese EV companies.
03:43Why Chinese EVs are so popular here in Norway, unlike in some other European countries?
03:49Well, I think it's important to take a step back and just to appreciate that Norway has been very,
03:54has been leading when it comes to transforming our passenger cars,
03:59so that we now have a very close to 90% of all the cars sold in Norway at the current moment
04:05are, in fact, EV cars.
04:07And our ambition is that all cars sold at the end of the year will be EV cars.
04:13And again, we've achieved that by various means, incentivizing individuals
04:17so that they will get certain benefits if they buy electric cars as opposed to gas-driven cars.
04:23It's important for Chinese companies, for American companies, European companies,
04:29to be present in the Norwegian market and for Norwegian customers to have an opportunity
04:37to buy the cars that fit their priorities.
04:40And that's something that we have tried as government representatives to facilitate.
04:45Well, our partnership with China, as I said, is based on the fact that no problem,
04:50no global problem can be resolved without the participation of China.
04:53And I think one of those challenges that we have to overcome is the climate crisis.
04:58And we recognize that China plays a pivotal role in terms of overcoming that.
05:03China has set forth pretty ambitious climate targets for itself.
05:09Norway has also established very clear ambitions in terms of carbon neutrality by 2055,
05:18so that's something that we want to achieve.
05:19And I think in order for us to achieve that, we have to collaborate with all countries.
05:24I think it's important for all countries to find the right balance between regulation and innovation.
05:28For us, it's important that we adhere to international law,
05:32that we adhere to various branches of international law, not least trade law,
05:38but also other aspects of the international legal framework.
05:41And that's something that we take very seriously.
05:43Also here in Norway, we have domesticated various international legal principles
05:48to ensure that all our companies, all our academic institutions, our experts have, in fact,
05:55an obligation also by way of our domestic legislation to comport with our international legal obligations.
06:02And we're having very robust conversations, constructive conversations with China
06:07within the confinements of the UN, the World Trade Organization, where these things are being discussed.
06:13And I think for our two countries to be able to strengthen our partnership also in terms of innovation and new technology,
06:21it's important that both our countries and also Europe as such come together and coalesce around these norms.
06:28We have an obligation to try to understand each other's perspectives.
06:32So for us, it's been important to travel to China, to listen to the perspectives of China,
06:38to meet with our Chinese counterparts.
06:40And this is why we've had a number of visits now over the course of the last few months and years to China
06:46from Norwegian officials, again, in order to understand the Chinese perspective,
06:51but also to convey Norwegian priorities, Norwegian standpoints.
06:55When I traveled to China, that was one of my central takeaways,
07:00was that we were able to have constructive, frank, open discussions also on topics that can be difficult,
07:07the war in Ukraine being one of them.
07:10So for countries such as the European countries, Norway, of course, being one of those European countries,
07:18it's critical that we maintain a dialogue with China, that we collaborate with China where we can to our mutual benefit,
07:25Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway, Andres Kovic, thank you very much for speaking to CGTN.
07:29Thank you very much.