The International Matchmaking Conference is an annual event held in the Barents Region, with companies from all four Barents countries present. This year’s conference is held in Luleå in northern Sweden with more than 180 participating companies. The main purpose of the conference is to let companies meet and establish contact, which can lead to cooperation and new contracts.
However, Norwegian companies do not believe it to be beneficial enough to participate in this conference, NRK reports. Only 20 of the companies represented at the conference are Norwegian. Norwegian association Bedriftsforbundet is one of the organizations supporting the conference. Sigfred Steien from Bedriftsforbundet says to NRK that he is surprised by the lack of interest for the matchmaking conference in Norway. Norwegian companies miss out an opportunity to sign new contracts and find inexpensive subcontractors by turning down the invitation.
