Their Majesties and government ministers were received on Tuesday 24 November by President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The Norwegian Government is currently investing heavily in the European CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), on the west coast of Norway, where a combined heat and power plant is being developed with a full-scale carbon capture facility. This will capture 1.3 million tonnes CO2 a year from the new power plant and potentially an additional one million tonnes from the existing refinery. The aim is for the power plant to produce electricity with no emissions of CO2. The MoU signed on Tuesday 24 November between Sasol and Gassnova SF will enable Sasol to explore the possibility of becoming a participant in TCM. The Centre is a unique international technology cooperation, established to test, verify and demonstrate technology suitable for deployment at large scale CO2- capture facilities.
Climate change and renewable energy are high on the agenda for both the State and business visitors.
The high-level delegation of government ministers and business leaders will seek new partners and further develop existing trade and partnerships, particularly in renewable energy, the oil and gas industry, ICT, fruit and foodstuffs, as well as marine observation and forecasting. Potential will also be explored in increasing exports to Norway in other sectors including wine.
The visit marks an important transition in Norway’s relationship with South Africa with stronger emphasis on mutual trade, investment and climate change initiatives.
The trade delegation of more than 100 business leaders is the largest to visit South Africa, which has been arranged to coincide with a series of business seminars that have attracted more than 500 South African business delegates.
The seminars will be held at the Westin Grand Hotel in Cape Town (Wednesday 25th) and Sandton Hilton Hotel in Johannesburg (Thursday 26th) covering general trade topics, as well as renewable energy, oil and gas, ICT and marine forecasting. Norwegian companies and government officials will be sharing expertise and business opportunities across these industries as a means to building closer business partnerships.
Exports from South Africa are presently worth several billion rand, with the Royal Norwegian Embassy's commercial office, Innovation Norway, working to increase bilateral trade levels.
A number of other important Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) will be signed between Norway and South Africa during the visit.
These include:
• an MOU on Marine Observation and Forecasting (Cape Town) between the Norwegian Space Centre and CSIR
• an MOU on commercial and industrial co-operation and knowledge transfer programmes (Johannesburg) between HSH Federation of Norwegian & Commercial Service Enterprises and the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The full seminar programmes can be found at http://www.innovationnorway.no/Internasjonale-markeder/Kontorer-i-utlandet/Sor-Afrika2/
Media enquiries:
Mr Bjørn Eriksen - Commercial Counsellor at Embassy of Norway, and head of Innovation Norway in SA, Mobile: 082 567 8895
Mr Stein I. Nesvåg, First Secretary, Royal Norwegian Embassy - Mobile: 082 901 8114
Ms Verity Lloyd, Paprika - Mobile: +27 82 892 4015
Mr Johann Barnard, Paprika – Mobile: +27 82 551 1414