The Danish government said that it will grant VND200 billion ($10.99 million) for Vietnamese companies in 2011-2013 to strengthen their global competitiveness, the Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon newspaper reported, citing an official. The fund is a part of the Denmark’s Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF), Amarnath Reddy, a senior adviser from GCF said, adding that it will be gone to 40 projects in Vietnam. The GCF’s aim is to help private Vietnamese firms to raise their competitiveness in exporting agricultural product, craft, fruit, coffee and wood in some Vietnamese provinces including Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen. The GCF started its operations in Vietnam in 2006 and it has supported a combined of 96 projects, including 63 ones for development service providers in the Southeast Asian country so far. Denmark funded DKK3 million ($511,350) for cultural projects in Vietnam between 1999 and 2005 and DKK13.9 million for the period of 2006-2010. This year, it government pledged $67.9 billion in ODA for the country.
