Norway’s sovereign wealth fund – the world’s largest – has split with two firms over arms sales to Myanmar.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund of Norway has excluded two companies from China and India for selling lights. fighter plane and a Weapon system for military-ruled Myanmar.
Norges Bank Investment Management said it had parted ways with AVChina Industry & Technology and Bharat Electronics because of the “unacceptable risk” that the companies presented by selling weapons to a state that uses them “serious and systematic violation of international humanitarian law,
The fund, valued at 13.2 trillion kronor ($1.3 trillion) on Wednesday, held 0.37 percent of the Chinese conglomerate and 0.32 percent of the Indian company at the end of 2021, according to the most recent available data. The fund said in a statement that the decision to exclude both companies has been taken by the Ethics Board. Statement Released on Tuesday.
The fund said AVCchina delivered light airplanes to Myanmar in December 2021 and Bharat Electronics delivered a remote-controlled weapon station to Myanmar in July 2021.
“Before and after the coup in 2021, the armed forces committed extremely serious abuses against the civilian population, including with fighter jets, among other things,” the fund told AVChina about the reason for the divestment.
“The Council notes the fact that the Company delivered aircraft to Myanmar despite information concerning military coups and military abuses. The Company has not responded to the Council’s questions.’
According to the fund, Bharat Electronics’ system was “developed to remotely control weapons from inside an armored vehicle”.
“It has been reported that such vehicles are used in attacks on civilians in Myanmar,” the fund said. “The attacks have been numerous and are, in the view of the Council, serious and systematic violations of international law.”
The fund, in which Norwegian state oil revenues are placed, is one of the world’s largest investors with stakes in more than 9,000 companies. It also has stakes in bonds and real estate. Governed by rules prohibiting it from investing in companies involved in serious human rights violations, the fund has previously divested from companies including Airbus, Boeing, Glencore, Lockheed Martin and US tobacco giant Philip Morris.
Three former UN experts said last week that companies from 13 countries, including France, Germany, China, India, Russia, Singapore and the United States Providing Supplies That Are “Critical” For the production of weapons in Myanmar.
The Special Advisory Council on Myanmar (SAC-M) said in a report that after seize power in a coup d’état In February 2021, Myanmar’s military has become largely self-sufficient in manufacturing a range of weapons.
The advisory council called on states to investigate and initiate administrative or legal proceedings against companies whose products were identified as enabling the regime to produce weapons. attack on civilians,