Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg, Ambassador of Norway to India, called on Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in his chambers at the Assembly building at Velagapudi on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Ragnar and his team were apprised about the Smart Village Smart Ward Programme, which focusses on improving resource-use efficiency, empowered local self-governance, access to assured basic amenities and responsible individual and community behaviour to build a vibrant and happy State. Commenting on it, Mr. Ragnar said it was a very interesting programme.
Areas of strength
“It helps in achieving sustainable and inclusive development of all sections of society. We are looking for possible opportunities for collaboration with this programme”, he said.
During their meeting, Mr. Naidu enquired about Norway’s areas of strength. Mr. Ragnar said “Norway is strong in all kinds of technology connected with sea and deep sea. Excavation of oil and gas is another strong area,” he said, adding that Norway stands second in technology connected to deep sea activities.
Mr. Ragnar spoke elaborately about Norway’s advanced shipbuilding industry, ocean-based activities and hi-tech solutions for port management. He said Norway was the second biggest exporter of sea food and also threw light on aquaculture technology in use in his country.
Naidu’s vision
Stating that Andhra Pradesh and Norway had common areas of technology, coastline, presence of mineral and water resources besides deep draft ports, Mr. Naidu briefed the Ambassador about his vision for Andhra Pradesh.
He said he wanted to achieve a growth rate of 15 % to make Andhra Pradesh the best State in the country.
Mr. Naidu sought Norway’s cooperation in sea-based activities, which, he said, were largely untapped in Andhra Pradesh. He said the potential of sea-based economy was not adequately appreciated, and that he hoped that with Norway’s cooperation, Andhra Pradesh would bring about a sea change in this area.
Mr. Ragnar met AP-Capital Region Development Authority (AP-CRDA) Commissioner Cherukuri Sreedhar at the latter’s office along with First Secretary of Commerce and Culture, Ragnhild Vognild. The two sides discussed the construction of the capital city Amaravati and potential areas of cooperation.
Mr. Sreedhar presented the overall economic theme of Amaravati to Mr. Kamsvag and requested him to look into the possibility of his Government extending financial support from its pension fund.
While appreciating the A.P. Government’s vision of Amaravati and making a special mention of land pooling, Mr. Kamsvag said Norway could join hands with A.P. in diverse sectors and the modalities may be worked out.
