On 16 and 17 June 2014, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte payed an official visit to Vietnam. He was accompanied by Minister for Agriculture Sharon Dijksma and a trade delegation consisting of representatives of 22 Dutch companies.
On Tuesday morning 17 June, Mr Rutte and Ms Dijksma first took part in a meeting on the Mekong Delta Plan. Vietnam was represented by deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. The Mekong Delta Plan is a joint venture for developing the delta safely and sustainably.
Next, Mr Rutte, Ms Dijksma, deputy Prime Minister Hai, and deputy Trade and Industry Minister Le Duong Quong spoke with Dutch and Vietnamese CEOs about business opportunities. At a networking lunch, representatives of Dutch and Vietnamese companies signed a number of contracts.
Mr Rutte closed his trip to Vietnam in the afternoon with a visit to two of the 120 Dutch companies operating in Vietnam.
He visited the new Damen Song Cam Shipyard, a joint venture between the Dutch Damen Group and the Vietnamese company Song Cam Shipyard.
Damen Song Cam, a brand new yard, is one of the largest in the Group and represents Damen’s first formal Joint Venture yard in Vietnam.
Damen Song Cam is considered state-of-the-art, bringing a western shipyard designed to meet European health, safety and environmental standards into a Vietnamese environment. The yard will produce around 40 ships annually in the first phase.
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Press Release, June 18, 2014