The Norwegian energy company SN Power launched the opening of their first representative office in Vietnam October 2010. “This is the largest Norwegian company represented in Vietnam,” Ambassador Ståle Torstein Risa said welcoming the company.
Flying confetti and cutting of ribbons glamorously marked the opening of the Norwegian energy company SN Power’s arrival on Vietnamese ground. The happening also manifested the newly established relationship between SN Power Vietnam and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
SN Power is an international investor in the power-sector, mainly focusing on hydropower. The Norwegian state-owned energy company Statkraft is the owner of SN Power. SN Power is present in 14 countries, five of them in South-East Asia. The new office in Vietnam is situated in the capital city of Hanoi.
At the opening of the office on 12 October, Erik Knive, Executive Vice President (EVP) in SN Power South-East Asia, commended Vietnam’s efforts in opening up the power market and emphasized that it will make further development possible. “We are very excited about our entry to the Vietnamese power industry, and believe we can contribute to further social and economic development in Vietnam, by transfer of hydropower knowledge and technology.”
H.E. Ståle Torstein Risa, the Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam, was in his opening speech enthusiastic about SN Power’s representation in Vietnam, and expressed: “SN Power is now the largest Norwegian company in Vietnam. Being a 100 % state-owned company, SN Power indicates the interest Norway has in cooperation with Vietnam. I hope their presence will be a local motive to expand business as well as bilateral relations between Norway and Vietnam.
H. E. Vice Minister Dang Huy Dong from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) also partook in the opening event, together with H. E. Vice Minister Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT). Vice Minister Dong congratulated SN Power in his speech and reiterated that: “Vietnam welcomes investment from private sector, domestic and international alike, in our new development journey as a middle-income economy.”
