President Zelensky met representatives of the Norwegian business community

‘The reconstruction of Ukraine will require enormous efforts over a long period of time. The authorities cannot accomplish this on their own, and the private sector will have a vital role to play. I am pleased to see that Norwegian companies are assessing what they can do to help, both while the war is going on and in the reconstruction efforts once the war has ended,’ said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Prime Minister Støre and Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram both took part in the meeting as well.

‘Norway and the Norwegian business community have experience and expertise that can greatly benefit the reconstruction effort in Ukraine. The scale of need is enormous, and this will be the situation for a long time to come. Reconstruction is not just about repairing what has been damaged. It is also about building a new future for Ukraine,’ said Mr Støre.

Participants at the meeting included representatives of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise and the Norwegian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce as well as company leaders from Equinor, Yara, Statkraft, DNB, Aker, Itera, DNV, NFM, Scatec, TietoEvry, Kongsberg, Teledyne, Emergy, and Nammo.

‘We have donated a great deal of military equipment from the Norwegian Armed Forces’ repositories, and we are procuring new equipment from the defence industry, including the NASAMS air defence system from Kongsberg, artillery ammunition from Nammo and drones from FLIR. Moving forward, a greater proportion of the donations will be coming directly from the industry itself,’ said Minister of Defence Gram.

The Norwegian Government has already provided NOK 1 billion to support the World Bank’s efforts to maintain civilian infrastructure and to start reconstruction efforts in Ukraine. See here for more information.