The Danish Embassy signed a framework agreement with the ANZ bank in Vietnam in Hanoi on December 2, giving the bank the management of the embassy’s fund for promoting energy saving in Vietnam.

The 6.5 million USD fund was set up to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam improve energy use efficiency and adopt sustainable clean technologies.

The Danish Ambassador to Vietnam, John Nielsen said the fund is part of Denmark’s aid package of 11 million USD to projects in energy saving for Vietnamese SMEs operating in brick making, ceramic production and food processing.

The ambassador hoped that the support would help to enhance the SMEs’ awareness about energy saving and encourage them to realise new ideas and innovations.

Qualified projects proposed by SMEs will be able to borrow from commercial banks with half of the loans provided by the Danish Embassy’s fund.

The funding scheme will be valid from January 2015 to June 2017.-VNA