Norway: a land of nature and energy

A trade mission to Norway (from 16 to 19 June 2024) focused on green energy transition, circular economy and life sciences. Our absolutely delicious strawberries and the strengths of Belgium's equestrian sports sector were also given pride of place. In total, the mission led to the signing of 18 contracts.

Every year, an average of two royal trade missions take place under the leadership of Princess Astrid. Each time, a country is selected that can offer obvious added value for Belgium and vice versa. In June 2024, it was Norway's turn.

Gas, crude oil and renewable energy

Norway is best known for its fabulous landscapes, including its fjords, mountains, forests, rivers and lakes. Of its 5.5 million inhabitants – half as many as in Belgium – over 80% live in urbanised centres and given that the country itself occupies an area of 385,200 km², it is 13 times larger than Belgium and therefore has an incredible amount of space for nature.

But did you know that with a GDP of about $75,000 per head, Norway is also one of the richest countries in the world? The UN consistently ranks the Scandinavian country first in terms of its level of development.

It owes that wealth and its high level of development in large part to its vast reserves of offshore gas and oil. Norway is the world's third largest exporter of gas and the sixth largest exporter of petroleum. The profits are invested in foreign equities through the Government Pension Fund.

At the same time, the country itself is a paragon of renewable energy. Just about all of its electricity comes from renewable sources – mainly hydropower – while 70% of its energy consumption is renewable. Norway is strongly determined to expand the proportion of renewable energy by means of wind energy, maritime turbines generating energy from the ebb and flood and green hydrogen.

North Sea energy cooperation

It goes without saying, then, that the green energy transition was one of the core themes of the royal trade mission. After all, there are many different ways that Belgium and Norway will be able to help each other! At the same time the Ostend Declaration at last year's North Sea Summit has been given a follow up.

On the one hand, Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten and her Norwegian counterpart signed a joint declaration on energy cooperation in the North Sea. The aim of this was to connect the electricity grids of Belgium and Norway together in the future. On a practical level, this will involve creating a link between Norwegian wind farms in the North Sea and the Princess Elisabeth energy island off the Belgian coast (which is under construction). Whenever a power shortage occurs, one of the partners will be able to send its surplus energy to the other. This should lead to more stable prices.

Norway wants to scale up its offshore wind power to 30 GW by 2040 and it is possible that Belgian know-how may be very helpful in that regard. In fact, Belgium's Parkwind has already won a contract to build a 1,500 MW wind farm off the Norwegian coast.

Carbon storage

On the other hand, huge empty gas fields are located below the seabed in Norway's territorial waters. These represent a godsend for energy-intensive companies from Belgium that will never manage to eliminate their CO2 emissions entirely. Some examples include the steel company ArcelorMittal, the cement plant Holcim and the lime producer Carmeuse.

It is simply a matter of capturing those residual CO2 emissions in Belgium and then transporting them to Norway – among other things via a pipeline yet to be constructed – so that they can be safely and permanently stored there in an empty gas field under the North Sea. A bilateral declaration around Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) was presented in the presence of Belgium's North Sea Minister Paul Van Tigchelt.

A sustainable construction industry

The circular economy was also a core theme. A workshop was held that provided solutions to make the construction industry more sustainable by means of innovation and reuse. This starts out from the design phase, in which ‘regenerative building’ is crucial, and extends to the use of innovative and circular (= reusable) building materials. Regenerative building does more than simply reduce the negative impacts. It aims to make a positive contribution to the environment and to society, for example by storing CO2.

Norway's many electric cars also provide opportunities for recycling. No fewer than 90% of new cars purchased in Norway are already electric! The recycling of used plug-in vehicles and their batteries forms an attractive business opportunity for a number of players based in Belgium.

A third core theme was Life sciences and biotechnology. A visit to the Oslo Science Park – an incubator focusing on biotech – was included during the trade mission. Norway aims to diversify its economy and is looking to Belgian know-how to further develop the Norwegian biopharma sector (in the areas of radiopharmacology, oncology, etc.). A particular source of inspiration in that regard is Belgium's Health & Biotech Valley, which brings together research, industry and distribution.

Delicacy

Our country also has a lot to offer in terms of fruit and vegetables. After all, Norway imports 70% of its vegetables, fruits, strawberries and berries. The trade mission therefore included a tasting of desserts based on Belgian strawberries, which are a delicacy that continues to be immensely popular in Norway. Our strawberries are known there for their high quality and deserve more market share. But berries, peppers, asparagus, leeks and conference pears are also angling for more sales.

Finally, we must also mention Belgium's leading position in equestrian sports. The Norwegian rider Emma Tallulah Behn – a granddaughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja – rode a quality Belgian horse during a jumping demonstration in the presence of Princess Astrid and the official delegation.

Norwegian champions flock to Belgium because they can find the world's best horses and training there. Our country also boasts an entire logistics chain that includes horse transport, quality feed, track construction, equipment for jumping and specialist law firms.

18 contracts

As with any royal trade mission, there were also opportunities to forge contacts on a political level. For example, Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib spoke with her Norwegian counterpart about Ukraine, Gaza, DR Congo, Sudan and the Sahel, amongst others. Princess Astrid – along with Minister Lahbib and Minister-President Jambon – were welcomed to the Royal Palace by Crown Prince Haakon. A meeting with the Government Pension Fund also formed part of the programme.

As usual, there was also a large number of academics among the 450-strong delegation. They took the opportunity to strengthen ties with Norwegian research centres that highly value Belgian scientific expertise.

In the end, a total of 18 contracts were signed between Belgian and Norwegian companies and academic institutions. This visit to Norway demonstrated once again how fruitful royal trade missions can be, especially at a time when we are facing numerous challenges.

The royal trade missions are organised jointly by the FPS, the Foreign Trade Agency and the three regional agencies responsible for trade and investment promotion (Flanders Investment & Trade/FIT, Brussels Invest & Export /hub.brussels and the Wallonia Export & Investment Agency/Awex).