Oslo - The Norwegian state pension fund has sold off its
holdings in three munitions companies, including a South Korean firm
that makes cluster weapons, over ethical concerns, the Finance
Ministry said Friday.
A year ago, Norway hosted a conference aimed at banning cluster
weapons worldwide.
In addition to dropping Hanwha Corporation of South Korea the
Finance Ministry said it has divested its stakes in Serco Group of
Britain and US-based GenCorp over their involvement in making nuclear
weapons.
The ministry acted on guidance from a special ethics panel.
'According to the Council on Ethics, these companies produce
cluster munitions and nuclear weapons, respectively, and we cannot
participate in the funding of this type of production,' Finance
Minister Kristin Halvorsen said.
The Finance Ministry said GenCorp had not replied to letters,
while the South Korean group and Serco Group had done so.
Germany's Rheinmetall AG was however exempted after the ethics
panel concluded it did not make cluster munitions at present.
Previously seven other cluster munitions makers and nine nuclear
weapons producers have been dropped by the state pension fund.
The ethics panel has earlier recommended the state pension fund to
divest from mining groups that conducted mining operations without
sufficient safeguards for the environment.
The Government Pension Fund, Global, includes the huge Petroleum
Fund.
The Petroleum Fund, managed by the Central Bank, was created to
pay for Norway's future health and pension expenditures through
investments outside the Norwegian economy.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story