Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung wrapped up his official visit to Denmark on September 17 after numerous meetings with leaders of government and industry, both Danish and Vietnamese, in the country.

During the talks with leaders of major Danish companies, PM Dung cited the fact that the two countries have already signed agreements on investment promotion and protection, double taxation avoidance, as well as aviation, economic, scientific and industrial cooperation and have been working to create legal avenues to facilitate bilateral cooperation.

Owing to that, bilateral trade turnover has, in the recent past, risen 15-20 percent a year to hit 318 million USD in 2008 and Denmark has invested in 74 projects in Vietnam at a total registered capital of 500 million USD, PM Dung said.

PM Dung told the Danish entrepreneurs that he reached a meeting of minds with PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen on directions for the future as well as host of important measures needed to develop cooperative ties between Vietnam and Denmark to create a partnership for mutual development.

Both also agreed on giving top priority to economic, trade and investment cooperation, setting their sights on soon recording 1 billion USD in two-way trade value and 1 billion USD in direct Danish investment in Vietnam , the Vietnamese government leader emphasised.

He also suggested to the business representatives that they should accelerate investment as well as cooperation in areas which have already been developed in Denmark, but in which Vietnam still has a strong need for progress, including finance, credit, shipping, sea port construction, clean energy development, information technology, agriculture and aquaculture, along with the brewing of beer.

Hearing the PM’s explanation of Vietnam ’s investment policy, such major groups as A.P Moller Maersk and Carlsberg affirmed that they are eager to step up investment in Vietnam and hope to receive the Vietnamese Government’s steady support for their long-term business in the country.

Meeting with 200 Vietnamese and Danish businesspeople at the Vietnam-Denmark Business Forum, PM Dung praised the event as a significant and practical activity to enable the two countries’ entrepreneurs to explore possible opportunities for investment and cooperation.

He reconfirmed the Vietnamese Government’s pledge to do whatever it can to facilitate the operations of foreign businesses in Vietnam, including those from Denmark, and expressed his optimism that future deals with Denmark, and projects they fund in Vietnam will be successful, contributing to boosting the two countries’ friendship and cooperation to accrue benefits for their people and the business communities as well.

The PM witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Danish Industry.

Later on that day, PM Dung received the Minister of Education and for Nordic Cooperation, Bertel Haarder, and conveyed high praise for Denmark ’s advanced education system, seeing it as a key factor behind Denmark ’s current status as a leading developed nation in the world.

He called on the two countries to soon sign a government-level agreement on education and training cooperation to lay a crucial legal foundation for the enhancement of specific cooperation between the two countries’ relevant government agencies and education and training facilities.

PM Dung underscored the need to establish a Denmark-run university in Vietnam that would operate under the auspices of the two governments. This should go hand in hand with providing assistance in the integration of the teaching methods of Vietnamese and Danish universities to help Vietnamese students acquire a modern education and cutting-edge knowledge right in Vietnam at an affordable cost.

On the occasion, PM Dung asked the Danish minister of education and cooperation to provide more assistance, including granting Ph.D scholarships to Vietnamese students to help more of them come to study there in the coming time.

Minister Bertel Haarder spoke highly of PM Dung’s visit to Denmark , particularly the two countries’ agreements on making education and training a prioritised area in the course of developing bilateral ties into a “Partnership for Development”, saying this marked a new milestone in the two countries’ cooperation in the field.

Sharing with PM Dung’s view on the necessity of signing an agreement on education and training cooperation, the education minister also affirmed that his agency would coordinate with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training to deploy PM Dung’s suggestions efficiently.

Following the meeting, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training signed a letter of intent with the Danish Ministry of Education and a cooperation deal with Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College .

On the day, PM Dung made a tour of the Copenhagen Business School , the A.P Moller Maersk and Carlsberg companies, the Vietnamese embassy and the Vietnamese community in Denmark .

He left Denmark on the day to head for Hungary to begin his official visit there as a guest of Prime Minister Bajnai Gordon./.