LEGO Group on Thursday officially started construction of its US$1 billion manufacturing plant in the southern province of Bình Dương. — VNA/VNS Photo Chí Tưởng

BÌNH DƯƠNG — The Danish toy production company LEGO Group on Thursday officially started construction of its US$1 billion manufacturing plant in the southern province of Bình Dương.

Covering an area of 44ha at the Việt Nam–Singapore Industrial Park Joint Stock Company (VSIP) III, the plant is the largest foreign-invested project in the province. According to LEGO, the factory will be its sixth manufacturing site in the world and the second in Asia. This is part of the group's strategy to expand its supply chain network to support its long-term development and build production facilities close to key LEGO markets.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Bình Minh, representatives of leaders of ministries, sectors and localities, and CEO of Lego Group, Niels B. Christiansen, LEGO Group’s Chief Operating Officer, Carsten Rasmussen and corporate and community partners.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Niels B. Christiansen said that the group chose Việt Nam as an investment destination stemming from the Vietnamese Government's strong commitments to sustainable development as well as Việt Nam's very good international trade relations. In addition, the necessary human resources in Việt Nam also meet LEGO's needs.

The plant is expected to become operational by 2024, creating 4,000 jobs for local people within the next 15 years. It would also contribute to increasing export turnover and socio-economic development of the province.

Võ Văn Minh, Chairman of Bình Dương People’s Committee, said: “This is LEGO's first factory designed to be a carbon-neutral facility. In addition to the solar panels on the roof, the factory also has a solar power farm built on the neighbouring land, meeting the total annual energy demand. The factory also uses state-of-the-art energy-efficient production equipment. It meets the minimum level of LEED Gold - a globally recognised green building certification. The plant will have a very positive impact on the environment and the ecosystem, thus contributing to the green growth strategy of Bình Dương Province in particular and of Việt Nam in general."

This is a clear demonstration of investors' support for Việt Nam's strong commitment at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26).

In his official visit to Việt Nam, Danish Crown Prince Frederik also attended the opening session of the Sustainable Energy Summit Forum between Việt Nam and Denmark and witnessed the signing of 14 memorandums of understanding between businesses of the two countries. He attended the workshop "Sharing Danish experience and technology in building the wind industry in Việt Nam" and the workshop "Increasing energy efficiency in industry towards net emissions by zero by 2050".

Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth also attended a trade and investment promotion event between Danish and Vietnamese businesses and investors in the field of offshore wind power in northern port city of Hải Phòng and visited a large industrial port in North, where it is expected to be operated by offshore wind energy in the future. — VNS