Norway's vast oil wealth fund drops Chinese firm which is selling military trucks to Burma

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/13/ap6164195.html

Associated Press, 03.13.09, 07:55 AM EDT

Norway's fund for investing its vast oil wealth has blacklisted China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd. for ethical reasons because it sells arms supplies to Myanmar's military dictatorship, the finance minister announced Friday.

The finance ministry announced in October it would bar the fund from owning shares in companies that sell arms or military supplies to Myanmar, also known as Burma.


"We cannot finance companies that support the military dictatorship in Burma through the sale of military materials," said Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen. Myanmar has been ruled by a dictatorship since 1962, and in 2007 the rulers staged a violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in which at least 31 people died and hundreds were arrested.

A news release said Dongfeng had been asked to comment, and confirmed that its subsidiary had sold about 900 military trucks to Myanmar in the first half of 2008.


Norway, a major exporter of oil and natural gas, sets aside surplus central government revenue in the Government Pension Fund-Global - formerly the oil fund - for foreign investment that is now worth about 2.2 trillion kroner ($319).

In 2004, the government imposed standards on the fund's investments, and created a national Council of Ethics to review company records in such areas as labor rights, environmental issues, human rights and production of nuclear weapons and cluster bombs.

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The Council of Ethics said the Chinese trucks are adapted to military use and are thus covered by the ban.