Norway’s Pension Giant Adds Chinese, Indian Firms to Exclusion List

Norges Bank Investment Management, which oversees Norway’s $1.34 trillion Government Pension Fund Global, is excluding investments in China’s AviChina Industry & Technology Co. Ltd. and India’s Bharat Electronics Limited, accusing the two companies of supplying military equipment to Myanmar’s armed forces, which staged a coup d’état in February 2021.

In its decision, the manager of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund cited an “unacceptable risk that the companies are selling weapons to a state that uses these weapons in ways that constitute serious and systematic breaches of the international rules on the conduct of hostilities.”

According to the pension giant’s ethics council, AviChina, which sells aircraft and aviation products, delivered several light combat aircrafts to the armed forces in Myanmar in December 2021. According to the ethics council, “It has been reported that such aircrafts have previously been used in combat in Myanmar.”

“Both before and after the coup in 2021, the armed forces have perpetrated extremely serious abuses against the civilian population, with, among other things, combat aircrafts,” the fund’s ethics council concluded in its recommendation to exclude the company. “The attacks have been numerous and, in the council’s view, constitute serious and systematic violations of international law.”

The council added that AviChina delivered aircraft to Myanmar despite the military coup and the information concerning the military’s abuses. The council also said AviChina has not responded to the council’s queries.

In its recommendation to exclude Bharat Electronics, an Indian producer of aviation and defense electronics, the ethics council said the firm delivered a remote-controlled-weapons station to Myanmar in July 2021. The council said the weapons station has been developed to remotely control weapons from inside an armored vehicle, reportedly in attacks on civilians in Myanmar.

The council said that before and after the coup, Myanmar’s armed forces have committed “extremely serious abuses against Myanmar’s civilian population.” It noted that several United Nations bodies have reported that the Myanmar armed forces, also known as the Tatmadaw, have deliberately targeted civilians.

“The attacks have been numerous and, in the council’s view, constitute serious and systematic violations of international law,” the council said. “This information has long been in the public domain, and the council takes the position that anyone selling weapons to Myanmar since 2018 should have understood that they could be used in violation of international law.”