Ørsted and Doosan Enerbility Vietnam signed the Memorandum of Understanding focused on foundations infrastructure and boosting local supply chains for offshore wind. Photo courtesy of Ørsted

HÀ NỘI - Under the theme ‘Creating a greener future together’, the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark led a business delegation to Việt Nam on 1-2 November consisting of more than 30 Danish companies with cutting-edge technology and know-how on sustainability and green transition.

The Crown Prince and Princess witnessed the signing of 14 Memorandums of Understanding between Danish and Vietnamese companies at the grand opening of the Denmark – Việt Nam Sustainable Energy Summit.

An important focus of the visit is the promotion of green and sustainable businesses between Denmark and Việt Nam. In recent years, the economic and commercial relations between the two countries have expanded substantially. The total value of bilateral trade in goods more than doubled during 2013-17 and keeps rising.

During this trip, the couple paid visits to a number of Danish companies that have established strong bases and long-term business co-operation with Việt Nam. In Hà Nội, the Crown Prince visited the factory of Julie Sandlau, a famous Danish jewellery brand. This factory was founded in 2006 and is now among the world’s leading sustainable jewellery manufacturers, which puts a high focus on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG).

He also attended the opening of the new office of Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP). COP is a sister company of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and they are leading global investors/developers in the offshore wind industry. CIP and COP are now developing a pipeline of early-stage offshore wind projects in Việt Nam, starting with the 3.5GW La Gàn offshore wind project in Bình Thuận Province and multi-GW projects in other provinces.

In HCM City, he visited Scancom, a leading global manufacturer of outdoor furniture with more than 3,500 employees in Việt Nam. In addition to Scancom’s efforts to create outstanding products that combine international design expertise with state-of-the-art production techniques, the company highly commits to Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

The Crown Prince attended the opening of the new office of Vestas in HCM City, a world leading Danish company in renewable energy. Photo courtesy of the firm

He also attended the opening of the new office of Vestas, a world-leading Danish company in renewable energy. The opening of Vestas’ new office in HCM City showed Việt Nam as an attractive and increasing market for sustainable energy solutions.

“Việt Nam is a high-potential market and a strategic partner for Denmark in the transition to a greener and more sustainable future. This event marks a new significant milestone on Vestas’ sustainability pathway and the growth of the green energy ecosystem in Việt Nam. Furthermore, this space is crucial as Vestas focuses on developing the next generation of local talent to support Vestas' current growth and future ambitions in the country,” said Mads Clausen, Country Manager for Vestas Việt Nam.

Wind power is vital for Việt Nam's development, helping the country to fulfil its commitments to net zero emissions by 2050 made at the COP26 Global Climate Change Summit. With timely support and favourable policies from the government, Việt Nam has quickly become one of the leading countries in the region concerning renewable energy with even greater potential waiting to be unlocked.

Finally, the Crown Prince attended Carlsberg’s 175th Jubilee. Being the oldest Danish brewery brand, Carlsberg came to Việt Nam in 1993 and became one of the earliest major Danish investors in Việt Nam. Carlsberg has a long-term plan to double the size of its operation in the next five years while reducing its carbon footprint through an environmentally friendly production process.

“Việt Nam’s commitment to 2050 net-zero emission target sends an important and strong signal regarding the country’s direction towards green and sustainable development. This makes Việt Nam an even more interesting destination for Danish investments. Denmark and Viet Nam have already accomplished a lot together. Still, the potential for future cooperation, especially in trade and investment, remains huge. I hope that cooperation between Danish and Vietnamese companies in the years to come will lead to the creation of many new and state-of-the-art products that can compete on the world market,” said Nicolai Prytz, Ambassador of Denmark to Việt Nam.

On the occasion, global offshore wind leader Ørsted announced its latest cooperation agreement in Việt Nam with Doosan Enerbility Vietnam, focused on infrastructure and boosting local supply chains for offshore wind.

With the signing of this MoU, the two companies take charge of leading the development of an offshore wind foundations supply chain in Việt Nam. In addition to the domestic aspect, the collaboration also has an export angle to support Ørsted’s significant global pipeline of offshore wind projects.

Jaeyi Kim, Senior Vice President of Doosan Enerbility, said: “This MoU will underpin Doosan Enerbility Vietnam to unleash its potential towards the offshore wind power industry and facilitate Vietnamese excellence moving forward in the global market. On top of this, we are delighted to be a part of Ørsted’s vision to create a world that runs entirely on green energy through this MoU.”

There are 135 Danish companies with a legal setup in Việt Nam. Due to their strong competencies, many Danish companies are well placed to meet Việt Nam’s high demand in industries such as clean energy, agriculture, food safety, water, waste management, maritime transport and logistics.

Denmark is also one of the biggest European investors in Việt Nam.

The official visit to Việt Nam by the Crown Prince and Princess is part of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Denmark and Việt Nam, which had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. VNS