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NORWEGIAN TRADE COUNCIL-ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY


Eduardo M. Niala Jr, Commercial Officer, Norwegian Trade Council, Commercial Section, The Royal Norwegian Embassy

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentleman. I represent the Commercial Section of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, which is the Norwegian Trade Council in Manila.

For your information, the Norwegian Trade Council is the national body in Norway that promotes the internationalisation strategy of Norwegian companies. What our office does [the Commercial Section] is to promote Norwegian expertise in the Philippines, as well as facilitating better relations between our two countries.

With respect to NORAD, it is the government agency that manages the development aid of Norway. For non-priority countries such as the Philippines, NORAD works through the Embassies in the Philippines. Unfortunately, the Philippines is not considered a priority country at the moment. They [NORAD] are concentrating on some countries in Africa and some countries in Asia.

What is unique about NORAD's involvement in the Philippines is that they have established a mixed credit facility, which is managed by the Development Bank of the Philippines. The Development Bank promotes this US$25 million facility. The priority sectors include the environment and maritime sectors. The maritime sector includes the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. This is the main involvement of NORAD in the Philippines as far as development aid is concerned.

Our office (the Norwegian Trade Council) [works] in close coordination with BFAR and the Department of Agriculture for some collaborative efforts which are in the 'pipeline' for endorsement to NORAD for funding assistance. I am not at liberty to disclose details of such projects at the moment but our office is closely monitoring developments in the aquaculture sector.

I appreciate the example cited by our Honorable Secretary [Sec Leonardo Q. Montemayor Secretary Philippine Department of Agriculture] when he said Norway is an example where aquaculture was developed into a progressive industry. We would like to say it is a good example of how aquaculture can contribute to the social and economic development of a country and we would like to duplicate the same experience in the Philippines. The way to do that of course is to coordinate our efforts together with the agencies and to provide assistance to proponents whether they come from the public or private sectors on projects that would promote aquaculture and fisheries in the Philippines.

While this is a regional donor consultation please forgive me for not concentrating on the other areas as we are currently involved only with what's happening in the Philippines. We would have to get back to you with further information on NORAD's involvement in the region [if opportunity comes along].

We would like to thank the organizers for inviting us and be assured that the insights we have gathered from this consultation will be relayed back to NORAD for further information and reference.

Thank you very much and I look forward to the meeting tomorrow.


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