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NORWAY-ASIA BUSINESS REVIEW
ISSUE 1 2020
PHOTO: NABS 2019
Being at the very first summit in 2010 provides Mr Geir Sviggum, Chairman at Wikborg Rein, with an interesting perspective on its growth after the event’s return to Shanghai.
Reflections on China
shares his thoughts on the NABS through the years along and Hereflects upon his time in China. CHEYENNE HOLLIS
When Mr Geir Sviggum, Wikborg Rein Partner and Chairman, and Mr Vidar Andersen, Head of Corporate Banking International at DNB, shared the stage at the Norway-Asia Business Summit 2019 to discuss the very first event nearly a decade earlier, their conversation turned to an amusing anecdote about the panel Mr Sviggum was on during the first event. “I remember someone on stage talking about how they believed investment in China had reached its peak level at that time,” Mr Sviggum told the crowd. “Of course, as I look around the room now and see so many people interested and active in China, that prediction may have been a little off.” Indeed it was. With more than
1,000 people in attendance at NABS 2019, it was the biggest Summit to date and showcased both the growing interest Norwegian companies have in China and the need for such events. “We thought it would be very meaningful for the Norwegian business community in Asia to gather once a year and share experiences. In 2010, Shanghai hosted the magnificent World Expo, the largest ever. We therefore started with Shanghai as a venue for the first NABS,” Mr Sviggum explained. “It felt as the epicentre of all excitement at the time. I remember that there was so much going on in Shanghai at the time that we had to compete for speakers who were also invited elsewhere at conflicting
happenings.” The most recent event brought with it a who’s who of speakers from the business and government sectors with both Norway and China thoroughly represented. Many of those who spoke at NABS 2019 was something that left a lasting impression on Mr Sviggum. “Many speakers at the event impressed me. Cilia Holmes Indahl CEO at Katapult; Therese Trulsen, Senior Lawyer and Chief Representative at Wikborg Rein China; Mary Boyd, Director and The Economist Corporate Network in Shanghai; and Mr Vidar Helgesen, Norwegian Special Envoy for Ocean, were just four of them,” Mr Sviggum said. “It was also really nostalgic for me to be on stage again with my old friend, the very impressive Mr Andersen of DNB.” Another thing to come out of NABS 2019 was the continued evolution of the event. The Summit in Shanghai during 2010 and the following year in Singapore happened to be much smaller affairs where the focus was more internal. Even in the following years as the Summit moved across Asia, the focused remained on gathering the Norwegian community