On October 28, 2021, authorized by the Government of Vietnam, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An and Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen, Ambassador of Denmark to Vietnam, representing the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark signed the Agreement between the two Governments on Development Cooperation in the Vietnam-Denmark Energy Partnership Program for the period of 2020 - 2025 (DEPP 3). The ceremony was held in in-person combined with virtual form.

Attending the signing ceremony in Vietnam, on the Vietnamese side, there were Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An, representatives of relevant agencies under the Ministry from the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable, Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam, Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, European-American Market Department. On the Danish side, there are the Danish Ambassador to Vietnam Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen, Energy Counselor of the Danish Embassy, ​​Senior Program Manager. In Denmark, there is the participation of energy experts from the Danish Center for Global Energy Cooperation.

Opening the ceremony, Deputy Minister Dang Hoang An affirmed that "The support and cooperation of the Danish Government in recent years has contributed to promoting the development of Vietnam's energy in the direction of increasing renewable energy sources to create, promote economical and efficient use of energy, and concretize Vietnam's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement."

In response, Danish Ambassador Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen said: “The close cooperation relationship between Vietnam and Denmark has a long history in many aspects, typically in the fields of climate and energy. This relationship is further deepened through cooperation between the Embassy of Denmark and its Vietnamese counterpart at the national to provincial level.”

The Vietnam - Denmark Energy Partnership Program for the period 2020-2025 (DEPP 3) marks the next development in the partnership between the two countries in the energy field, on the basis of inheritance and continuation from the successes achieved from DEPP 2 (period 2013-2020). The program is managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the project owner is the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development. The program has a total non-refundable ODA capital of 60.29 million Krones ( equivalent to 8.96 million US dollars).

The overall objective of the Program is to assist Vietnam in building a low-carbon development roadmap for the energy sector, contributing to concretizing Vietnam's commitment to national-determined contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement on climate change, improve NDC targets and strengthen related solutions by 2025. Three specific objectives of the Program include: (i) Enhance capacity on energy sector planning and infrastructure construction policy regulation, integration of renewable energy sources, including offshore wind power development and energy-saving technologies, which are economically effective solutions to fulfill NDC commitments while ensuring national energy security; (ii) Develop and complete a legal framework and flexible solutions for power system operation to support a safe and efficient transition towards clean energy with an increased share of renewable energy sources; (iii) Develop mechanisms and policies to promote economical and efficient use of energy in the industrial sector, improve capacity building and amend the legal framework on economical and efficient use of energy at the national level and effectively enforce the legislation on economical and efficient use of energy at the provincial level.

To implement the above objectives, the Program is built with 03 components: Component 1: "Capacity building on long-term energy sector planning" is chaired and managed by the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority; Component 2 "Improving the capacity to integrate renewable energy into the power system" is chaired and managed by the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam; and Component 3 "Low-carbon development in industry" is chaired and managed by the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities and the Embassy of Denmark to implement the DEPP3 Program, according to the agreed contents in the Agreement signed between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of Denmark.