The Prime Minister's speech at the reception in Beijing to celebrate 70 years of bilateral relations

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Dear guests, Your Excellency Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, dear friends,

A warm welcome to you all as we commemorate 70 years of diplomatic relations.

And rest assured, my visit is not about looking back at 70 years, it is really about looking forward. I appreciate the meetings I've had today with President Xi, tomorrow with the Prime Minister, now with you, Deputy Prime Minister. We’ve also had an excellent meeting between the social partners of Norway, employers’ organizations and trade unions, with counterparts on the Chinese side.

This is a vibrant relationship, and I am very happy that we are optimistic and pushing forward for what will follow in the years to come.

Now, the green transition and cooperation in green technologies, maritime technologies, technologies of the future, have been on the agenda today. And what is more telling than to be it this beautiful building designed by Snøhetta, which is a trademark for Norwegian skills in architecture and sustainability. I'm very happy to have you here in this location.

There are many areas of cooperation that we explore during this visit. I'm very happy today that we have had a signal from the Chinese side that there will be a 15-day visa waiver for Norwegians travelling to China. That is a good sign for these relations – so, thank you.

I met with then Vise-President Xi back in 2010 and today we met again, fourteen years later, and I appreciate that Norway and China can have ambitions for future cooperation.

At the same time, we have a dialogue that can contain more difficult issues where we also may have different opinions. But that is what a partnership is all about, we can be honest and open, in a respectful manner.

I'm inspired by what you, the business community in the green sector, have achieved in cooperation. Norway and China will go to the next UN Climate Conference, the COP29, where we will cooperate to make that a success on the road to cutting emissions, in accordance with our obligations.

China is a leader in the green transition with new technologies, and tomorrow we will see that at the shipyards, I mean the day after tomorrow, down the Shanghai area. Hoegh Autoliners and Norwegian and Chinese suppliers are building one of the most environmentally friendly ships of this type to date. And you can be proud, and I look forward to salute this achievement.

So, from the library to the shipyard, from books to steel, there is a lot we can achieve together. We are ambitious for the next 70 years. Thank you for coming to this reception and I look forward to meeting many of you here tonight.

Thank you.