Visit to Vietnam by Danish Development Minister Ms. Ulla Tørnæs will focus on business cooperation and climate change issues in Danish cooperation with Vietnam as well as one UN, skriver den danske ambassade i Hanoi på sit website.
From 18th January to 21st January, Danish Development Minister Ms. Ulla Tørnæs will visit Vietnam. During this four day visit, the Minister will open a regional workshop on Climate Change together with Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen, visit a Re-education centre in Ba Vi as well as have meetings with Government, UN and other donors regarding one UN and visit B2B companies.
Increasing focus on business and climate issues
On Tuesday 20th January 2009, Danish Minister of Development and Mr. Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment will jointly open a regional workshop on Climate Change under the theme “Toward Climate Change resilience and Sustainability: Adaptation in Land and Water Management in Developing countries”.
Because of its long low-lying coastline and exposure to typhoons, storms, heavy and variable rainfall, Vietnam is believed to be one of the 5 most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change.
To assist Vietnam to cope with this situation, Denmark has approved a new climate change programme of 200 million DKR for Vietnam to assist the country in its climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, thus to contribute to Vietnams sustainability in economic, social development, and poverty alleviation (læs mere herom i telegrammet
www.u-landsnyt.dk/indhold.asp?ID=17166&mode=Nyhed).
During the visit, the Minister will also attend a joint-venture opening ceremony between Enel/Alsinger, a Danish company specializing in the sourcing and sales of M2M clothes for men and a Vietnamese garment production company A’Style. The joint-venture has received funding of 1 million DKR from the Business to Business (B2B programme) for the pilot phase.
Established in 1997, the Business to Business (B2B) programme has contributed to reducing poverty, promoting economic growth and social development in Vietnam by supporting long-term, sustainable, and commercially viable partnership between Vietnamese and Danish companies. So far the programme has facilitated the establishment of more than 100 long-term partnerships and provided support up to 1 million US dollar million for each JV establishment between the two countries’ companies.
Another part of the programme of the Minister is the visit to a Re-Education centre in Ba Vi to learn about HIV among highest risk groups. HIV/AIDS has been one of the key cross cutting issues in all Danish Development Aid. It has been mainstreamed in all Danish Development programs in Vietnam and supported in a number of minor projects of the Embassy.
The Minister will also discuss with Government, UN and donors about the achievements and challenges of the One UN – pilot in Vietnam. The so called One UN initiative comprises (i) One Plan (ii) One Budget (iii) One Leader (iv) One set of guidelines and (v) One UN House. The objective is to make United Nations more efficient and relevant by focusing on key areas of competency, identifying how UN adds value and how enhanced coherence is achieved.
Kilde: www.um.dk
