OVERVIEW OF BILATERAL RELATIONS

BETWEEN VIET NAM AND DENMARK

          I. Political relations:

Denmark is among one of the first Western countries to establish official relations with Viet Nam (25/11/1971) and hosted the most vigorous movement to support the Vietnam’s national liberation struggle.

On 12/05/1980, Denmark opened its permanent embassy in Ha Noi and on 1/4/1994, its General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

On 12/8/2000, Viet Nam opened its permanent embassy in Copenhagen (now in charge of Iceland also).

          Exchange of high-ranking delegations:

          - From Vietnamese side:

          Prime Ministers:  Pham Van Dong (6/1977), Vo Van Kiet (6/1995), Phan Van Khai (9/1999), Nguyen Tan Dung (9/2009); Chairman of the National Assembly Nong Duc Manh (9/1998), Vice Chairman of National Assembly Nguyen Van Yeu (10/2002) and Nguyen Duc Kien (4/2008); Deputy Prime Ministers: Tran Duc Luong (7/1992), Nguyen Manh Cam (11/2001),  Vu Khoan (11/2004), Nguyen Sinh Hung (6/2008).

          - From Denmark side:

          Prince Consort (9/2003), President of the Danish Parliament (9/1995), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economics, Trade and Industry Bendt Bendtsen (9/2006); the Queen of Denmark Margrethe II (11/2009).

          II. Bilateral trade and investment relations:

          1. Trade:

          The bilateral trade turnover has seen steady progress year after year:

Unit: million USD

  (Source: Viet Nam Customs Agency)

          Vietnamese exports to Denmark range from textile and footwear, shoes, wooden furniture, handicrafts to electrical appliances and coffee and imports from Denmark include electrical appliances, chemicals, mechanical tools, dairy products, raw materials…        

2. Denmark investment in Vietnam:

          Denmark is among the Scandinavian countries that soon invest in Viet Nam. Until November 2010, there are 90 valid projects with a total registered capital of 592m USD, ranking the 25^th among 93 territories and countries investing in Viet Nam and the 7^th among EU countries in Viet Nam.

          Danish enterprises operate under 3 different entities: joint venture entities with 34 projects totaled 357m USD; 100 per cent foreign ownership with 31 projects of 57m USD and 5 limited companies with a registered capital of 21m USD.

          Almost Danish-funded projects focus on provinces with good infrastructure, industrial zones and export processing zones like Ba Ria Vung Tau (2 projects under way with the capital of 189m USD), Ha Noi (25 projects totaled 87,8m USD) and Ho Chi Minh City (19 projects with a registered capital of 58m USD).           

          III. Development cooperation:

          Denmark is among one of the first Western countries offering ODA to Viet Nam and currently stays in the group of countries that render the most grants to Viet Nam.

          From 1972 to 2007, Denmark granted Viet Nam a total of about 900m USD. In 2008 only, Denmark was committed to offering 84,8m USD of ODA to Viet Nam (marked by an increase of 2,3 per cent against 2007). In the 2008 CG, Denmark pledged to grant Viet Nam 63,7m USD in 2009 (reduced by 24,5% against 2007); in the 2009 CG, Denmark committed to granting Viet Nam 67,9m USD (marked by an increase of 6,59% against 2008 with a commitment figure of 63,7m USD).

          Danish ODA is geared towards the infrastructure areas, poverty alleviation, sustainable development, administrative reforms, environmental protection, climate change, finance and banking and support to SMEs.       

In the issue of responding to climate change only, Denmark is the first and biggest donor to Viet Nam so far with a grant of up to 40m USD in the programme „Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation from 2009-2013„ (two sides have signed an agreement in December 2008 in Ha Noi).

In the field of judicial reform, Denmark in coordination with Sweden and EC granted Viet Nam 18,7m Euro for a project titled „Justice Partnership Program”.

          IV. Cooperation on culture and tourism:

          a/ In culture:

          Since 1999, Denmark started to grant Viet Nam in cultural area through

The Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF), with an aim to supporting small-scaled projects of Viet Nam in heritage preservation, publishing, cultural exchange and support to Vietnamese artists. From 1999 to 2005, Denmark granted 3m DKK to this fund. During the visit to Viet Nam of H.M Queen Margrethe II, the two sides signed an MOU in culture and art for 2009-2014.

          In 2006, Denmark approved the National Strategy on development cooperation for Viet Nam for a period from 2006-2010, including a concrete strategy on cultural support for Viet Nam in order to enhance creativity, access skills and the participation of the population in cultural and art activities. With the framework of this strategy, Denmark has conducted 7 projects with a grant of 13.895.000DKK.

          Since the implementation of cultural strategy in Viet Nam, bilateral cultural activities have been vividly organized with a host of events and cultural programmes like 2006 Music Talents, 2007 Talents of Contemporary Dance, Diplomatic Actitivities Week of Denmark in 2007 etc.   

b/ In toursism:

          Since 2005, Viet Nam has unilaterally applied visa exemption for Danish tourists to Vietnam within 15 days. In 2007, Viet Nam has received 21.138 tourists from Denmark, with an increase of 17,1 per cent against 2006.

V. Vietnamese community in Denmark:

According to the statistics of respective Denmark agencies, there are bout 12.000 Vietnamese living and working in Denmark. In general, the Vietnamese community lives stably, most of them are diligent and compliant with Denmark law and well integrate with the life in Denmark. These overseas Vietnamese keep themselves update with the current situtation in Vietnam via VTV4 and are eager and happy about the country’s achievements and the recent state policy towards the overseas Vietnamese. 

          VI. List of signed bilateral agreements:

          The two sides have, since 1975, signed 11 important agreements in various fields: economic, scientific and technological cooperation; investment promotion and protection; air cargo cooperation; avoidance of double taxation.

April 2011