• RELATIONS VIETNAM - DENMARK:

  I.  DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

  
  

  1. Introduction

  
  

  - November 25, 1971: Denmark established diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Ever since, Denmark has been actively supporting Vietnam during our war for independence as well as during our national construction and reform process. Over the last years, the bilateral relations between Vietnam and Denmark have been positively developed.

  
  

  - May 12, 1980: Denmark opened its Embassy in Hanoi (which was closed on March 1983).

  
  

  - April 1, 1994: Danmark's Embassy in Hanoi was reopened and Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City was established.

  
  

  - August 12, 2000: Vietnam opened its Embassy in Denmark.

  
  

  2. Exchanged visits

  
  

  Vietnam and Denmark has continuously been exchanging many high-level visits in order to enhance and broaden the cooperation, trade and investment relations between the two countries.

  
  

  High-level visits from the Vietnamese side include: Prime Minister Pham Van Dong (June 1977). Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet (March 1995). Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (from September 29 to October 1, 1999). Chairman of the National Assembly Nong Duc Manh (8/1998). Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Van Yeu (10/2002). Deputy Prime Ministers: Tran Duc Luong (July 1992),  Nguyen Manh Cam (November 2001), Vu Khoan (November 2004). Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Dzy Nien (June 2002). Many visits at ministerial level have also been exchanged.

  
  

  Visits from the Danish side include: Member of the Danish Royal Family (June 2003). Chair of the Danish Parliament (September 1995). Minister for Foreign Affairs (January 28 to February 2, 1999). Minister for Foreign Affairs attended the 5th ASEM Meeting on October 2004. State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ulrik Federspiel (March 2007). Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister for Economics, Trade and Industry Bendt Bendtsen (September 2006). Minister for Development Cooperation has visited Vietnam 8 times (the first time was on March 1977). The Judge of the Supreme Court. Minister for Education (March 1998).  Minister for Justice (January 2000).

  
  

  3. Bilateral Agreements between Vietnam and Denmark

  
  

  - June 1977: Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the fields of Economics, Science and Industry.

  
  

  - August 1993: Agreement on General Terms and Procedures for Development Cooperation.

  
  

  - August 1993: Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment.

  
  

  - May 1995: Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Evasion.

  
  

  - September 1997: Agreement on Aviation Transportation.

  
  

  - April 2003: Agreement on Adoption..

  
  

  II.  ECONOMIC RELATIONS

  
  

  1. Development cooperation

  
  

  Denmark is one of the first Western countries providing development assistance to Vietnam. During the last years, Denmark has been ranking 3th among European ODA donors to Vietnam (after the UK and France).

  
  

  a. Official Development Aid (ODA)

  
  

  Since 1993, Vietnam has been one of Denmark's 16 selected programme cooperation countries. The total amount of ODA from Denmark up to date is almost 800 million USD. At the moment, the Danish annual ODA to Vietnam is more than 60 million USD.

  
  

  Until 1990 the Danish ODA was spent on deverse aid projects. Since 1990, the focus has been shifted to sector programmes, mainly in the fields of building material industry, fishery, agriculture and rural development, water supply, environmental and natural resources protection, public administration and legal reform, support for local businesses, finance and banking.

  
  

  b. Support on Finance and Banking

  
  

  In 1994, Denmark wrote off the 55 million USD national debt, which was taken by Vietnam during 1974-1982 and reduce the 18.8 million USD commercial debt (taken in 1975) by 50% to 9.4 million USD. Denmark also gave 4 million USD to Vietnam via the Paris Club (during 1995-1997). During 1995-2004 Denmark has granted concessional credits worth 130 million USD to Vietnam through tre agreements on consessional credits (signed in May 1995, January 1999 and February 2002).

  
  

  2. Trade relation

  
  

  Trade relations between Vietnam and Sweden are still modest and much potential remains to be explored. The bilateral trade turn-over during the last five years were:

  
  

  - 2002:  140 million USD

  
  

  - 2003:  147 million USD

  
  

  - 2004:  150 million USD

  
  

  - 2005:  183,2 million USD

  
  

  - 2006:  220,3 million USD​

  
  

  It has always been export surplus from the Vietnamese side. Vietnam exports mainly handicraft products, pottery goods and stoneware, textile and footware and imports mostly electronic equipments, chemicals and machinery.

  
  

  3. Investment relations

  
  

  Until the beginning of 2007, Denmark has invested 193,9 million USD in 38 projects in Vietnam and is ranked 25th among the countries and territories, which have FDI in Vietnam.

  
  

  III. Cultural Cooperation

  
  

  The Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) has been established sponsoring by Denmark in order to promote cultural cooperation between the two countries. Denmark has been carrying out various events to promote Danish culture in Vietnam every year. In 2001, Denmark and Vietnam celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. And for the first time, the Vietnamese National Culture Team took part in the International Arts Festival in Denmark.

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