Ulla Tornaes, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation visited Vietnam from 21-25 April 2007. The minister was warmly welcomed and had a diverse programme, starting off with a visit to the remote province of Dien Bien, followed by meetings with ministers and company visits.
Ms. Tornaes began her visit with a trip to the poor Northern province of Dien Bien, which is home to a large number of ethnic minorities and also the new partner province for a number of new Danish development assistance programmes within agriculture, water and sanitation and administrative reforms.
In Hanoi, her meetings with Vietnamese first Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and Vice Environment Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen focused on development cooperation and commercial relations and confirmed the good bilateral Danish-Vietnamese relations in all areas. Minister Tørnæs also attended the opening of a Bang & Olufsen (B&O) store in Hanoi and a ground-breaking ceremony at the future headquarters of the Danish work wear producer Mascot International’s new production plant in Vietnam.
At the conclusion of her visit Minister Tornaes states:
“My visit to Vietnam confirms the positive impression I had from my first visit to the country almost 2 years ago, including of the results of the Danish development assistance. During my political discussions I confirmed that our development cooperation would continue to be a core part of our relations in the coming years as is also stressed in the 5-year country strategy for our development assistance to Vietnam.”
“My visit to the province of Dien Bien clearly showed that Danish development assistance is extremely important to the poverty reduction efforts in Vietnam, as it is strongly targeted towards poor provinces with a high number of marginalized ethnic minorities and therefore reaches parts of the population, which have yet been unable to benefit from the fast economic growth. During my meeting with the Vice Minister for Environment and Natural Resources we discussed the environmental challenges in the country. Since 1997, Denmark has provided sub-stantial support to environmental improvements and lately also to efforts to combat the negative effects of climate change. I am pleased that Denmark is able to support Vietnam in its efforts to adapt to climate change.”
