A Vietnam-Netherlands energy forum was held in Hanoi on June 17 aspart of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s visit to Vietnam.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le DuongQuang said that Vietnam and the Netherlands signed a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) on energy in The Hague in 2011, creating a firmlegal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.

The active coordination in implementing the MoU reflects the two Governments’ determination, he said.

According to Quang, Dutch energy businesses which boast hightechnology, experience and prestige in oil and gas, liquefied naturalgas (LNG) and renewable energy will see good opportunities to operate inVietnam , a market with large oil and gas reserves and increasingdemand for energy consumption.

Vietnam may also become a provider of fuels for biomass production for Dutch renewable energy companies, he added.

The Vietnamese Government pledges to create every condition for bothsides’ businesses to expand cooperation in this area, he affirmed.

At the forum, the two sides agreed that their ministries, agencies andgroups should strengthen concrete cooperation programmes in otherfields.

At present, major Dutch groups such as Shell, Philip and Heineken are operating in Vietnam .

According to the Advanced Energy Technology International (AETIN)trade mission, including leading energy companies and institutes in theNetherlands , the country now tops the world in designing andbuilding oil and gas infrastructure. It also ranks second in the worldin the export of oil and gas products.

Two-way tradebetween Vietnam and the Netherlands increased from 1.2 billionUSD in 2006 to 3.6 billion USD in 2013.

TheEuropean country has become Vietnam ’s second export market in the EU,after Germany. It is also one of the leading European investors inVietnam with 192 projects worth nearly 6.3 billion USD.-VNA